The Chronicles of Merrick: Resurrection
by Lecter
Summary: A prophecy describes Tara, saying only she can save the world from the apocalypse one of them anyway so she must be brought back. A dark and mysterious spin off Tara central fic. Rating for violence and language.
1. Prologue

Prologue.

_Cleveland, Europe._

Late at night in a small, single-storey bungalow a red haired, dainty woman sits watching some American show on the television. When a knock sounds at the door she glances around and furrows her brows wondering who it could be at this time of night.

She rises from her seat and heads over to the door, picking up a stake from the table on her way. She opens the door to reveal a shabbily dressed, bedraggled, disheveled, and slightly weatherbeaten Tara Maclay looking as though she has not a drop of energy left in her.

Willow Rosenberg's mouth falls open in shock and she drops the stake. Tara collapses forward into her old lovers arms. Willow holds her close savoring for a moment the fact that Tara is actually corporeal, realizing but not wanting to believe that this is impossible.

"Tara, baby... what happened... Tara..."

Some distance away a man stands in the shadow of a tall tree his long coat billowing to reveal black trousers and combat boots. He watches the reuniting of the two women, a sad smile creeping across his lips. His eyes covering the distance and piercing the darkness without even any need to strain.

_I have a tale to tell... a tale of violence and destruction... a tale of friendship and of misery... of love and of hate... of good and of evil... this tale... is not for the faint hearted..._

Ok People... Review review review or you're not getting anything else... you have to encourage me to write otheriwse I'll give up and be like 'well what's the point.' I also want to know whether you like it or not because if you don't want to know any more I won't force it upon you...


	2. Undoing what was done Pt 1

Chapter 1

_Biloxi, Mississippi._

_Some 2 years earlier._

In a dark room three men sit around a table talking heatedly about their wives, how bad their cooking is, and the fate of the world. One of the three picks up an ancient scroll of parchment and holds it up to the other three.

"Are you all forgetting the reason we broke sacred tradition and met here tonight?"

"Of course Methuselah. However the niceties must be addressed before we can begin to discuss business." Spoke a second voice.

"The prophecies of Kain are shabby at best, they are unclear and cryptic. Are we sure of the meaning of the section in question?" Spoke the third.

"I have no doubt whatsoever," replied Methuselah

"Then..." Began the second speaker "we are in some amount of shit aren't we."

"If time was tampered with why didn't Osiris bring her back when the witch called him?" the question was raised by the third speaker.

"Because, Matthias even though the boy went back in time to try and change things he killed the girl with a gun, that is a natural death apparently... a paradox, but an accepted one." Said Methuselah.

"So that's it then, all we have done ruined because some kid wanted to be powerful. All that we have worked for comes to nothing because of a stray bullet and there is nothing we can do about it."

"That's a very optimistic outlook on things isn't it Mattimeo?" The speaker was a fourth person emerging from the shadows, and judging by the startled reactions of the other three he was not expected to be there. The stranger was wearing dark leather trousers and a black jumper with a floor length black canvas coat. He had relatively short jet black hair which fell in neat curtains just above his eyes, which were a striking blue.

"This is a sacred gathering of an ancient council. You are not permitted to enter these chambers." Spoke Methuselah.

"Need I remind you Methuselah that it was my people who founded this council ten thousand years ago. My father sat at the head of this council in ancient times and I was destined to follow him." said the stranger.

"That was before you became a mass murdering lunatic."

"And there I was hoping you'd put that behind you after a thousand years."

Methuselah stood up, he was a lot taller than he looked sitting down and stood a full head above the stranger, who was a tall man anyway.

"Did you actually have any business here or did you just feel the need to intrude on a sacred gathering?"

The stranger nodded and took a step back so he could lean against the wall, the shadows making him all but invisible. The three members of this council could not see well in the dark, they were old and their sight was beginning to fail them; but also they were human. The stranger being so much more than human could see as clearly in the dark as he could in broad daylight.

"I'll bring her back." The stranger spoke from the shadows and Methuselah raised his eyebrows in a look of disapproval.

"And exactly how do you plan on doing that?"

"I'm not sure, but i have an idea. I do however need something."

"And what might that be?"

"The full resources of this council at my disposal so that I-"

"absolutely not! That's an outrage." Matthias was the speaker. He had been quiet for a while now but he rose to his feet with such force he knocked his chair over. "The resources of this council are available to no-one but the members themselves."

"So you would be willing to let the world end because of some tradition, because you don't want to share." The stranger stepped from the shadows and drew level with Matthias, his eyes had taken on a strange red tint to them. "You know I would not ask but judging by what I heard earlier you need all the help you can get."

"I don't care, we cannot-"

"That's enough Matthias, we will give you what you need if you're sure you can do what you say you can."

"I think I can, I still need to look into a few things."

"There is one condition to this though. You must put everything you need by us first, and this condition is non-negotiable so don't bother arguing Merrick."

"Very well." Replied Merrick. He bowed and turned to leave when Methuselah called out to him.

"What exactly made you decide to get back into the game anyway?"

Merrick looked back over his shoulder and replied: "I was bored." He then let himself out and the three old men who formed the council of Aramatheus returned to their seats to discuss this new development.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Cleveland, Europe._

_2 weeks later._

The petite blonde slayer did and impressive flip kick knocking the vampire to the floor, but the second one came up behind her and grabbed her, but she was too strong and threw him over her head to the floor. She pulled a stake from inside her leather coat and stabbed the grounded vampire in the heart. She then turned her attention to the second vampire.

All this was being watched by a short blond boy who was holding a cross and looked more than a little scared.

He was in turn being watched from the shadow of a tree by Merrick. He looked a little impressed with the way Buffy handled herself against the vampires.

After she finished off the two vampires she turned to Andrew and shook her head.

"I'd tell you you know better and that you should be more careful but it won't make any difference so I'm not going to... well I just did so there you go." She rolled her eyes at her own idiocy and walked away. She felt a presence behind her and turned to look in the shadows where Merrick had been standing seconds before but there was nothing there. She shrugged her shoulders and walked away.

Andrew also walked home, clutching his cross to his chest and looking around like a frightened rabbit all the way. And when he finally got home he locked all seven locks on his door behind him.

He put the cross down on the table and leaned against the wall letting out a sigh of relief. A knocking sound rang out from his door causing him to almost literally jump in the air in surprise. He smiled and shook his head at his own nervousness and opened the door to reveal Merrick standing in the doorway.

"Hello Andrew." He said before his fist connected with Andrews face knocking him unconscious and causing him to fall back into the house. Merrick stepped over the threshold and swooped Andrew up, picked up his keys on the way out and bundled him into his own car. Merrick got in the front and drove away.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_A cave in the middle of the dessert, southern California._

_3 days later._

Andrew woke on a sandy floor up against a damp rock wall, he rubbed his eyes as he got used to the dark, the cavern was lit by a single flaming torch placed in a bracket in the wall. After his eyes got used to the dark he scanned the room. He noticed something on the wall opposite him and slid closer to get a better look. It was a large triangle full of strange writing with a large eye at the centre. Andrews eyes widened with horror as he realized where he was.

"Oh no... not here... this.. this is where... where it all began..." he stuttered aloud.

"And this is where it all ends." spoke a voice from the shadows.

Andrew turned to see Merrick walking towards him.

"What did you do... what do want with me.?"

Merrick simply kept walking and grabbed Andrew by his hair dragging him to his feet and over to the triangle on the wall. He pulled a cruel looking knife from this pocket and looked from Andrew to the Triangle and back again.

"Begun by blood," He raised the knife. "By blood undone," he brought the knife down, the steel flashing in the flickering firelight.

TBC


	3. Undoing what was done Pt 2

"Begun by blood," He raised the knife. "By blood undone," he brought the knife down, the steel flashing in the flickering firelight.

The blade came down and cut a long gash in Andrews hand. Merrick then took Andrews hand, ignoring the boys protests and pleas, and placed it over the eye at the center of the triangle on the wall.

As soon as Andrews bleeding hand made contact with the triangle the whole cavern began to shake violently. Everything became a blur as reality melted into the spirit dimension and the fabric of time unraveled itself as Merrick was thrust through its folds back to the time he wanted to be in.

The whole world seemed to be spinning and Merrick felt the distinct sensation that his body was being ripped apart as something seemed to be trying to burst from inside.

Then as suddenly as it had all began it stopped, everything slammed back into place. Only they weren't in the cave any more, they were in a sunlit room. And nothing was normal, everything was in an odd shade of color and everything seemed out of place. It was the world as it is seen from the spirit world.

They were not alone in the room, there were two women there also; one was a thin read-head in a white shirt and the other was a more voluptuous blonde in a blue sweater.

BANG!BANG!SMASH!

"Oh your shirt."

Merrick watched as Tara fell to the floor and as Willow begun her soulless wailing. He watched as Tara's spirit rose from her now useless body and materialized in the spirit world. She looked back at Willow wailing over her body sadly and began to ascend to the higher plane for which she was destined.

"Don't go."

She looked back and was surprised to see Merrick standing there.

"Who are you?" she asked, surprised at the floaty, echoed tone her voice had taken on.

"Stay." Merrick produced a fist sized glass ball from his pocket and it began to glow eerily; he muttered a few words in a strange, ancient language and it began to glow brighter.

Tara looked at the ball an felt mesmerized. She felt herself being drawn towards it. And then suddenly she was drawn towards it, and sucked inside.

Merrick took one last look at Willow banishing Osiris for his inability to bring back her lover. He smiled sadly as he wondered whether it would have actually been easier if none of this had actually happened. He then produced a small glass vial filled with a strange black liquid and threw it at the ground.

Merrick again felt the sensation of the world spinning again, this time everything was in reverse; instead of feeling like he was being ripped apart he felt like something was being forced back into his body.

Reality returned to its normal state as Merrick was slammed back into it and fell to the floor. A burst of bright light exploded from the triangle throwing Andrew across the cave and slamming him into the far wall.

Merrick got to his feet and brushed himself down. He looked over at Andrew, feeling a little guilty at what he now had to do.

Andrew struggled to his feet and looked at Merrick.

"Why? Why did it have to be me. I've already done this once. And I hated it then!"

"It had to be you because you've already done it once. It was your blood that caused this mess and activated the eye so it had to be your blood that activated it again to undo what was done."

Andrew nodded.

"So I guess I'll just be going now then..." He turned to leave.

"I'm afraid not." Merrick sighed heavily "a sacrifice must be made."

Andrews eyes widened in shock as he realized what Merrick had said. He took a step back in fear as Merrick took a wrought silver medallion from his pocket. It was a single piece of silver about the thickness of a piece of spaghetti and it had been woven around itself to form some sort of complex Celtic style symbol hanging from a piece of rope.

Merrick held it up and began to speak words in another long dead language. A strange sound came from the Celtic symbol as it began to vibrate fiercely on the end of it's piece of rope. It began to light up and became brighter and brighter until it lit up the entire cavern drowning out the flickering light coming from the torch. Merrick finished his incantation and the symbol unwound itself to form one long string of light which shot straight at a dazzled Andrew and disappeared inside him.

Light began to emit from Andrews eyes nose and mouth as he screamed. He then exploded in a shower of little white lights which hovered where they were like tiny stars. Merrick then held up the glass ball which held Tara's spirit and muttered another incantation and a small wisp of silvery smoke floated from the ball and headed straight for the small star formation in the middle of the cave. The whole lot began so spin wildly until it merely became a bright light, which the died down to reveal a naked blonde girl lying on the floor shivering.

She moved to stand but noticed her lack of clothes and quickly covered up. Merrick removed his coat and handed it to her. She looked up at him questioningly; he was worn out and drained from his tip through the spirit dimensions, which is bad at the best of time but he had to drag a spirit with him and transfer body's.

"Who are you? Where am I?" She asked.

"What... what do you remember?" He panted.

"Not much."

He smiled guiltily. That would be easier.

"I remember home. My father. Moving to Sunnydale. But after that it all becomes a blank. How did I get here?"

"Magic." He moved his wet hair out of his eyes with his hand "I guess I have a lot of explaining to do. However this is not the place for such an explanation. I suggest a warm place, more clothes and possibly some hot chocolate."

Tara let her smile reply for her.

"Come on then." Merrick led the way out of the cave and to Andrews old Volvo.

"This must be your car?" asked Tara

"Well it is now." Merrick muttered sadly.

They got in and Merrick started the engine and drove away.

It took them a full two hours to get to Los Angeles and Merrick's small apartment. Tara though that it certainly didn't look like much at all from the outside but was shocked when he opened the door to reveal a spacious but homely interior. Almost all the floor space was taken up by, not furniture but odds and ends from different periods in history. The place looked almost like an antiques dealership. She went over to his packed floor to ceiling bookshelf, which looked a lot like a mini library. She was amazed at the number of incredibly rare volumes he possessed.

"It's not much. But I call it home."

"I love it."

Merrick smiled at the compliment.

"Would you like to sit down."

Tara turned in surprise and noticed that Merrick was pointing at a sofa that she had previously though was non existent, she smiled gratefully and sat down.

"I'll go and make that hot chocolate I promised you. And then I have some explaining to do."

Tara nodded. She was weary from the adventure she didn't even know she had had. Perhaps if she had not been so tired for no apparent reason she would have been more cautious of this stranger. But she knew a few spells and was confident she could escape if she had to.

"Erm... feel free to dig out some clothes or something. I didn't think about you not having any clothes after everything." Merrick indicated to his bedroom which was filled with a single bed and a large wardrobe.

He then turned and went into his small kitchen where he leaned up against the worktop and let out a sigh of relief. He had done it. He had accomplished what was all but impossible. But he still didn't know if it would work. He still needed and explanation to keep her from leaving. The truth maybe...

TBC


	4. Explanations

He still needed and explanation to keep her from leaving. The truth maybe... but would it go down? If she didn't know about anything after moving to Sunnydale would it be easier to not tell her about Buffy and Willow?

He made the drinks and took them out. Tara was looking through his books wearing blue jeans and a white sweater.

"I guess we'll need to get you some clothes." He handed her her drink "here, sit. I'll explain everything."

"Where exactly am I."

"Los Angeles. But I think the more appropriate question is _when_."

"What do you mean?"

"What's the last you remember?"

"Moving to Sunnydale for college."

"In 2001, yes?"

She nodded.

"The year now is 2006."

Tara spluttered and coughed as she choked on her chocolate.

"B-b-but how?"

"I brought you here. I brought you across time and dimensions. You were trapped in the spirit realm and I pulled you out."

"But that-that's dangerous... you could have damaged or even destroyed the fabric of reality... why would you risk that?" there was a note of panic in her voice. At least she understood the consequences of what he had done, which meant she remembered all her mothers teachings about magic and balance... that would make things easier.

"There is an ancient council called the council of Arametheus. They have existed for about ten thousand years. It is their job to guard the balance between good and evil. They decipher ancient prophecies and make sure the variables involved are in the right place at the right time..."

"But what does this have to do with me?" She interrupted.

"Please don't interrupt or we shall get nowhere, and I would very much like to get some sleep tonight." She nodded her understanding "So this council have spent the past sixty years attempting to decipher a set of ancient prophecies called the prophecies of Kain. They came across one of the pages which mentioned you directly. The consequences of pulling you from the spirit realm and across time could be grave but the consequences of not, could have been much graver. You see the prophecy said that there would come a power greater than any ever known and would bring about the apocalypse and nothing would stop it. Nothing except you."

"But I don't have any where near that kind of power!"

"The prophecy was not specific on how. It only said that it could only be you. It may not even be a matter of power, I have learned in my long life that power and strength sometimes make no difference at all."

"You say you pulled me from the spirit realm. How on earth did I get trapped there in the first place?"

Merrick sighed and turned away form her. He did not like to lie, but the truth outright could seriously complicate things.

"An accident. Needless to say you did not get there on purpose. Time was tampered with by someone and things went wrong. If this person had not messed around with time then I would not have needed to do it myself to get you back. And trust me when I say I would never under normal circumstances done anything so rash."

Tara put down her cup and buried her face in her hands and groaned loudly. She had been feeling confused ever since she had found herself on the floor in the cave, and her tiredness only added to her confusion and increasingly painful headache. And the more Merrick explained to her the less she understood, she was feeling more and more like Alice tumbling down a never ending rabbit hole taking her deeper and closer to a place she didn't really want to be in. She then realized that although she had been explained her situation, where and when she was; and she knew who she was, she still had absolutely no idea who this person who was explaining all this to her was.

"Who are you?" she asked

Merrick looked around surprised. She had expected that to be the first question she asked him and had not realized that he had not explained anything about himself to her.

"My name is Merrick, I work for the powers that be. It is my job to maintain the balance between good and evil, I am what you might call a warrior for good. You see you know about your powers, you use them for good. Not all beings use their power this way, some do not even learn control. There are even some beings who's sole purpose is to cause chaos and destruction." Merrick indicated to his book shelf and began picking off books and handing them to her "Demons, vampires, the forces of darkness; everything you ever though was under your bed or in your wardrobe or lurked in the darkest places but had convinced yourself weren't real. They all exist. They are all real. I fight them, I make sure they do not get out of hand. Most of the time their sole purpose is to work alone and cause damage. Or maybe they just want to feed. But every now and again you get a real visionary come along who wants to destroy the world, or bring hell on earth, or wipe out all life or something like that. It's at these times that people like me are needed, people like you. People with powers who understand balance and the value of life. I am not alone in this fight either, there are others like me. Other warriors who fight for good."

"Like the vampire slayer." Tara had no idea where that piece of information came from. It must have been something her mother had told her a long time ago, she didn't know anything about the vampire slayer except that there was only one and she fought the forces of darkness.

Merrick looked at her questioningly. How did she know about the slayer.

"Slayers." He corrected "something happened. Now there are many slayer, not just one."

Tara sank back in her chair. She began to wish she had not asked her last question, she was now more confused that ever. And her tiredness was quickly creeping back, with a vengeance. She glanced at Merrick's old fashioned grandfather clock and saw it was almost 4 am and she felt like she hadn't slept for days.

Merrick noticed her weary glance at the clock and smiled. He was tired himself and was running out of ways to get around her questions without telling her everything.

"You can take the bed. I'll stay on the sofa."

Tara nodded gratefully, she was now just too tired to speak. She got up and headed for the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later that night in an empty room in the same apartment building three old men sit around a table facing another, younger man who is standing.

"So you have done it then?" asked Methuselah.

Merrick nodded.

"How?" asked Matthias.

"I used Andrews blood to re-activate the eye of Rah-mesh to go back in spirit form to the time she died."

"Well that explains how you got back, but not how you brought her spirit back with you." said Mattimeo.

"I trapped her spirit in an orb of Thesela and then transferred her spirit into Andrews essence which i separated using the Methos medallion you gave me. His essence fused with her spirit to make her corporeal. She is alive."

"Well I must say Merrick you have surprised us all. But didn't she want to get back to Willow and her friends?" asked Methuselah.

"She doesn't remember, and I hate to say this but it's easier for us that way."

"Does she remember anything?"

"Everything up to her move to Sunnydale."

"I think you have proved yourself to us. I think we can trust you to look after her and train her in preparation for what is coming. You will not only need to teach her to fully utilize her power but you should probably also teach her to fight... just in case."

Merrick nodded and bowed as he left the Council of Arametheus to discuss whatever it is they had to discuss. He went back into his own room and collapsed onto his sofa exhausted. He had not slept in almost a week, and the preparations for the ritual as well as the ritual itself had been a great strain. Merrick had not felt this tired in almost a millennia. He fell instantly into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	5. Lessons

When Tara awoke the next morning she sat up in bed and looked around Merrick's bedroom, which he had kindly given up for her; though she still had no idea what was going on and was hoping that she'd wake up in the morning to discover it had all been a dream. It was not a dream however and everything was very real. As she was so very tired last night she did not look very carefully at the room in which she was sleeping and so decided to do so now. The largest thing in the room was a wardrobe, which she new from raiding it last night was full of a large collection of very different but mostly dark clothes... and a lot of coats.

The second most distinguishing feature in the room was a large frosted glass fronted cabinet. Tara was surprised she had not noticed this yesterday as it was about as large as the wardrobe. She knew she shouldn't be nosing around Merrick's room like this but she knew almost nothing about him so she decided to do it anyway.

She opened the door of the glass fronted cabinet and almost fell over in shock. It contained a vast array of menacing weapons from wooden stakes to broadswords and even a pair of handguns. Tara very rarely swore but this was an occasion that called for it, she closed the cabinet and scanned the rest of the room. Other than the wardrobe and the weapons cabinet there wasn't any other furniture in the room, there was a small writing desk tucked away in a corner and the rest of the room was full of books.

She put on a dressing gown and ventured out into the main room. When she entered she saw Merrick sitting cross legged on the floor holding a small cup of hot tea. She thought he seemed a lot more composed this morning, it seemed a good night sleep was all he needed to bounce back from bringing her across dimensions... it would have killed any normal person. He smiled at her as she walked into the room.

"You found my weapons. Good. You'll be learning to use them later."

"M-me... use w-w-weapons... I couldn't..."

"No, you can't now. But you will learn. The same as you will learn to fight and the same as you will develop your powers."

Tara saw that there was no point in arguing with this, it was how it would be. Instead she walked across the room and begun studying the books on Merrick's bookshelf once again, now that she was awake and had a clear mind.

"Tea?" asked Merrick

Tara turned and saw him indicating to an oriental style tea set on the coffee table behind him. She smiled, her mother used to make tea for her like this. She went over to Merrick and sat cross legged opposite him on the floor. Merrick took the tea set from the table and placed it between them, he then set about the delicate process of making tea. In japan making tea for someone is more than just pouring them a drink, it is a delicate and precise art. After he had made the tea he blessed the cup and handed it to her. She knew what to do, she bowed her head with the cup held up to him blessing it again; she then turned the cup around in two precise movements so that the twice blessed side was facing her and drank from it.

"I see you know the proper etiquette for tea drinking, that's good, it would have just been annoying to have to teach you that." Tara smiled at him and put down her cup, she still had the feeling of being in wonderland.

"Right then, come with me and we can begin your training." Merrick got to his feet and put on his coat.

"Go where?" Tara asked, not sure if she wanted to get up

"To the roof." Merrick smiled and handed her a coat.

Tara was unsure of himself but decided to follow him anyway, she was doing a lot of things lately that she had no idea why she was doing, she was also having thoughts about things she didn't know she knew.

They climbed the stairs of the apartment building, very dreary stairs that reminded Tara of a scene from a movie... but she didn't know what movie it was or of ever having watched it. When they finally reached the roof Tara wondered why on earth he had brought her up here, there was nothing there other than a few television receivers and a large brick shed type building. To her surprise Merrick walked over to the shed and pulled a key from his pocket, he opened the door and and held out his hand inviting her to enter.

When she walked in she was amazed. The building was one big open space floored with light spongy mats and the walls were lined with all kinds of weapons imaginable. The decoration of the place was stunning, a mixture of many eastern styles that created what must be a one of a kind dojo. She walked around the place admiring the décor and and looking at the many different homage's to the many different styles of martial arts, Tara saw a couple of painting on one wall of various masters of various martial arts... she suspected they were the creators of the styles.

Merrick opened up a section of the wall and pulled out a folded crisp white outfit complete with white belt.

"Put this on and we can begin." Merrick handed it to her and she looked at him curiously, did he expect her to change right here? Merrick pointed to the far wall where there was a door handle protruding.

Tara opened the door to reveal a changing room. She locked the door and began to change, wondering the whole time what Merrick had planned. If he had a set up like this he must know what he was doing and must be a real master of many different fighting styles, she felt slightly lucky, not often would anyone get to train one on one in a set up like this.

When Tara opened the door and walked into the room she saw Merrick kneeling facing the wall with all the portraits on it. As soon as the door clicked shut Merrick bowed and turned to face her.

"I want you to know that no matter what happens out there," he pointed to the entrance to the dojo "no matter if we grow to be friends or if you grow to hate me, in here i am the master and you are my student. In here you will show the proper respect and you will listen to me and obey. Am I clear?"

Tara hesitated for a moment then nodded in acknowledgment.

"And that leads us smoothly there into the first lesson, never hesitate. You either do something or you don't. If you hesitate in combat you go down, a fight is decided in just one split second, it doesn't matter who's feeling best on the day , it's down to the split second and who's better when the moment arises."

Tara gulped, she was in for a hard time here.

"Sit down Tara."

Tara sat on the floor cross legged.

"That is not how we sit in here Tara, the way you saw me sitting when you came out of the changing room."

Tara adjusted her position so that she was kneeling.

"Now we can begin. There are two different stages of learning in the martial arts: there external martial arts and internal martial arts. The external is the fighting, the techniques and all the physical aspects of it; the internal is the strengthening of the mind and learning to focus your energy, to push your limits. You begin by training in external martial arts, only when you have mastered that can you go on to training your mind. Do you understand?"

Tara nodded, she had always wanted to learn a martial art to defend herself, but her parents had never let her; her mother didn't believe in violence and her father didn't want her to be able to fight back.

"The process of learning takes years, it would take a lifetime to master all the martial arts, I will teach you bits of each with no with no distinction between them so effectively what you will learn is one art that combines everything, a new style, one of my own creation. This will give you an edge over any other fighter because any other fighter will have to switch between styles to counter moves from different styles; you will not, it will give you a split second advantage which is all you need. I have worked on and perfected this style of fighting for over a thousand years in complete seclusion, no one knows it's secrets but me and i have never taught the technique to anyone."

Tara smiled, she felt proud that she would be the first to learn a new style of martial arts.

"First let me set a few rules, codes of etiquette. First when you enter this dojo you will remove your shoes and place them in the shoe box by the door. Second when you step onto the mat you will bow to the masters on the wall. Third you will refer to me as sensei whenever we are in her. And finally in this dojo there is no such word as can't, if you feel unable to do something you train yourself and train yourself until you can. Are you ready?"

Tara nodded again, and Merrick raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side indicating he wanted to hear something.

"Yes, sensei."

"Good then we'll start with warming up, some yoga, helps loosen the muscles and warm you up. It also helps to focus your mind."

As Merrick instructed Tara on her warm up techniques he was surprised to find that she was picking things up very quickly, almost as though she was remembering them. Had the slayer taught her to defend herself? Was she regaining her memories? The more he continued to teach her the more he saw that she was exceptionally gifted and was picking everything up at an alarming rate... he could not, however make up his mind whether this was a good thing or a bad thing...

TBC


	6. Music and Strangers Pt1

**Sorry it took so long, my computer blew up so I had to get a new one. But I'm back now and with a new chapter for you so enjoy:**

_I find it kinda funny,_

_I find it kinda sad,_

_The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had._

The sound of mellow guitar music awoke Tara the next morning and she got out of bed, her whole body was aching from the training the day before. She went out into the living room to see Merrick sitting on the floor with a guitar singing softly.

"I didn't know you played,"

Merrick looked up at her and smiled.

"I've been around for 8000 years Tara, there's not much I can't do."

She sat down opposite him cross legged like a child at story time and grinned widely.

"Play something for me," she made big puppy dog eyes and Merrick chuckled softly. He plucked his string a few times to make sure it was tuned properly and began playing.

_Well I heard there was a sacred chord_

_Thad David played and it pleased the lord_

_but you don't really care for music, do you?_

_It goes like this:_

_the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift_

_The baffled king composes hallelujah_

Tara smiled with recognition, she knew this one and joined in.

_Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah_

_Well your faith was strong but you needed proof_

_you saw her bathing on the roof_

_her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you._

_She tied you to her kitchen chair_

_she broke your throne and she cut your hair_

_and from your lips she drew the hallelujah._

They sang the song the whole way through together and when they finished they were slightly breathless because they ended up singing as loudly as they could.

"You have an incredible voice," Merrick said as he put his guitar away.

"Thanks, you're not bad yourself," she smiled, but her smile fell to a frown as the thought of singing stirred up a nagging at the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite place it. Merrick saw this and decided it wuld be a good time to cut in.

"Hey you'd better get some breakfast or something, you got a long day ahead of you."

Tara snapped out of her deep stupor and looked up at Merrick, she had an unnerving feeling that he knew something more than he let on, that it was something he really didn't want her to find out.

"Yeah, sure." She went out to the kitchen and busied herself making something for breakfast. Merrick watched her leave the room and walked over to the window and drew back the curtains, the harsh southern Californian sunlight pouring into his eyes. He squinted slightly and allowed his eyes to get used to the light and looked around, it was then he saw the figure. There was a cloaked figure standing on the roof of the adjacent building looking directly at him, but Merrick blinked and in that fraction of a moment the figure was gone. Any other person would have dismissed it as a figment of their imagination, or a trick of the light but Merrick knew himself well enough to know he didn't imagine things like that and **nothing** played tricks on his eyes.

Merrick hurriedly scanned the surrounding area and the other rooftops and saw nothing, he opened the window and hung out scanning the floor below but saw no sign of the mysterious figure. Whoever it was was fast.

Tara came out of the kitchen with a cup of tea and saw Merrick hanging out the window.

"What the hell are you doing?" Merrick jumped and lifted himself back into the room, banging his head on the window on the way in.

"I saw-" he turned back to look out the window and turned back "Never mind. Hurry up with that, we have work to do."

When Tara finished her tea Merrick took her out to the hall and they began to climb the stairs when Merrick stopped.

"Back down." This was a direct order and not a request, Tara did as she was told and when they were at the foot of the stairs Merrick turned to her.

"You know one of the most important things in combat is to not get tired, if you get tired you lose your concentration and if you lose your concentration you die. I want you to run up these stairs all the way to the roof and back down again. On my mark, go!"

Tara looked at him stupidly but he had produced a stopwatch from somewhere and had already started it so she took off up the stairs. She had barely gone up three flights when she felt the tell tale pain in her side, she was developing what people refer to as a 'stitch', what was actually happening was that she was not taking in enough oxygen to keep her muscles going so her body was sending more oxygenated blood to the muscles in her legs and less to the organs that didn't need to much at the moment and so they sent messages of pain to her brain telling her to stop because they weren't getting enough oxygen.

She finally reached the roof and practically collapsed into the door, pushing it open, she was temporarily blinded by the light that poured through to her face and she collapsed against the door frame trying to catch her breath. She then realised she had to go down too and started on the return journey, almost falling several times. When she finally reached the bottom and collapsed to her knees Merrick clicked his stopwatch and knelt down in front of her.

"That was pathetic, do it again." She looked up at him in disbelief "I'm serious."

Tara struggled to her feet and started off up the stairs once more barely dragging herself along this time and feeling like she was about to pass out. Suddenly Merrick was at her side urging her to continue though she could barely hear him. When she finally reached the roof she went straight out the door and fell to her knees and spoke to Merrick between pants.

"I'm... going... to..." Merrick put a bucket in front of her just in time and she threw up her entire breakfast into it and collapsed on the floor.

Merrick knelt down next to her and brushed her drenched hair off her face.

"Your cardio sucks, you wouldn't last two minutes in a fight against a vampire."

Tara tried to reply but no words came out, she rolled over onto her back and looked up at the sky.

When she had finally regained her breath they went into Merrick's dojo and trained, he threw her and let her throw him. He tought her to punch and showed her how to use a stake properly, this wet on until sunset and then Merrick stopped them.

"Go clean up and get changed into something loose and sensible, we're going out."

Tara went back to the flat and had a shower and changed and came out to find Merrick dressed all in black with his hair in a pony tail.

"We're going hunting." Tara's eyes widened in surprise.

"A-a—are you s-s-sure I'm read-d-dy?"

"I have no idea, but this is one way to find out, besides I'll do most of the work, all you have to do is watch and back me up."

They left and walked around the crowded L.A. Streets for a while before Merrick turned down an alley where two men had another pinned against a wall.

"Here take this," he handed her a stake which she clutched tightly in both hands and advanced forward with him.

Merrick whistled and all three men turned to look at him, the two who were doing the pinning had distorted faces and large fangs. Merrick threw his stake at one of them and it found it's target, the vamp subsequently bursting into flames. He then turned to the guy who now looked very scared indeed.

"Get out of here kid." The man wasted no time in complying and ran like wildfire from the alley. Merrick then turned to the remaining vamp who was circling looking for an opportunity to attack.

"Do you really wanna do this? I mean I would tear you apart without a problem, but her," he pointed to Tara "easy meat." Tara looked at Merrick in shock.

The vamp smiled and ran straight past Merrick who made no attempt to stop him, Tara backed away slightly and dropped her stake on the floor. The vamp gabbed her a threw her against the wal, she tried to hold him back but he was too strong and he sank his fangs into her neck, her eyes widened and she screamed out in pain.

TBC


	7. Music and Strangers Pt2

The vamp smiled and ran straight past Merrick who made no attempt to stop him; Tara backed away slightly and dropped her stake on the floor. The vamp gabbed her a threw her against the wall, she tried to hold him back but he was too strong and he sank his fangs into her neck, her eyes widened and she screamed out in pain.

Suddenly Tara stopped screaming and started choking as she inhaled vampire ash, she fell to her knees spluttering. She clutched her neck and felt the warm liquid that was gushing from the two small wounds the vamp had left her; she looked up and saw Merrick standing over her holding a stake.

Tara finally regained the ability to breath and took several deep breaths before looking down and realising exactly what it was she was sitting in and what she had inhaled a fair amount of, and for the second time that day threw up. She fell back against the wall she was only a moment ago pinned against and hit her head, she uttered a few annoyed swear words and thought that this really wasn't a good day for her.

"You froze, you hesitated. You have just learnt a valuable lesson, no matter how much training or preparation you get it cannot prepare you for the real thing, you can't fight something you've only seen in movies and books no matter how prepared you are." He reached out his hand to her to help her up "It doesn't get scarier either, just because you know what you're doing or what to expect doesn't mean you know everything. They're stronger faster and more powerful than you, one mistake is all it will take and you're dead. Don't forget this moment."

Tara looked up at him and then to the hand he was extending her and felt the rage boiling up inside her, she slapped his hand away and dragged herself to her feet and began to back away slowly towards the street.

"Y-y-you can stay the HELL away from me," she shouted and turned and ran out onto the street, and before Merrick could do anything she was lost in a large crowd of people.

"Looks like you lost the one mate."

Merrick turned slightly annoyed to the Australian accent that he assumed to be addressing him and was surprised to see that the speaker was a hooded and cloaked figure leaning against a wall, and he had a feeling it was the same hooded figure he had seen that morning.

"That was you on the roof this morning wasn't it?"

"May have been." The person moved from the wall and took a couple of steps towards Merrick, the orange glow coming from one of the apartment windows almost illuminating his face "I have some information you might like to hear."

"Not interested" Merrick turned to leave but the person's next words made him freeze, fear in his eyes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After she left Merrick Tara ran and ran and didn't stop until she was at the point of collapsing, she felt ill and drained and weak, guess losing a pint or two of blood does that to you she though. She slowed her pace to a stagger and almost collapsed against the wall of a club, she looked at herself and decided it would be wise to clean up, she entered the club.

As soon as she walked through the door she knew she couldn't have picked a worse club to walk into to clean up in this state; there were circular tables filling the room all facing a stage at one end from which a man was unplugging his guitar and leaving. She saw the sign for the bathrooms and realised she had to walk past the bar behind every single table there to get to them.

She took a deep breath and hurried across the room at the worst possible time, there was no one stage to distract the club's patrons so a few of them got up for the bar or turned around and saw her, she got a few very odd look but kept going nonetheless.

"And now, please welcome on stage one of our regulars Morgan Lacey"

Tara was not sure why this spiked her interest but it did, she turned to look and saw a girl walk on stage holding a guitar, the girl had long blonde hair with dark roots and was wearing a pair of scruffy jeans and a t-shirt and a pair of black rimmed glasses with white stripes down the sides, Tara though this girl must be very interesting and for some reason felt a longing to get to know her. Morgan plugged in her guitar and walked to the microphone, she opened her mouth to speak and her and Tara's eyes met and she seemed stunned for a second, Tara tore her eyes away after what seemed like an age and hurried to the bathroom leaving behind the sound of:

"Ok, this is a cover of a Chris Isaak song and it's called Wicked Games" Tara almost felt sorry the bathroom door had to close because it drowned out the music Morgan started to play.

When Tara had emerged from the bathroom having done the best she could to clean herself up Morgan was just finishing 'Wicked Games' to thunderous applause. Tara decided she wanted to hear some of this girls stuff and decided to stay, she needed a drink anyway; she though alcohol would be a very bad idea considering the blood she had lost.

"Can I help you" asked the barman, She shoved her hand in her pocket and rifles for some change but all she found was some paper and a sinking sense of shame as the barman looked at her expectantly, she was fully aware of her bloody sweater and just asked for a glass of water.

"Ok" started Morgan "this next one is another cover, I'm covering Michelle Branch this time," this comment was met with some scattered laughter, Tara let a small smile escape her.

"It's called 'Goodbye to you' and it goes like this."

Morgan started playing the song and after the first few lines Tara suddenly felt an incredibly powerful sadness take her and she didn't know where it came from, she dropped her glass on the floor and rubbed her eyes trying to remember what was behind this locked door in her mind, her eyesight began to fade to black and the last thing she heard was the sound of a guitar being dropped and people rushing to help her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Merrick arrived and the Los Angeles City Museum and made a bee-line for the nearest drainpipe and climbed all the way to the roof and headed for the skylight on the far left, he peered down to see a man with very long jet black hair standing in front of four rocks. Each of these rocks had an inscription on it and a different weapon sticking out of the top. The one closest to the door had a large two headed battle axe, the one next to it had a bow, the next one had an elaborate Katana and the last had a very mean looking broadsword that looked like it belonged to a villain in a highlander movie.

The man standing in front of these stones was at least 6 feet tall and slim, he was wearing all black with a long black cape. His face was pale and his eyes red, he left this room and headed for another, Merrick followed along the roof, skylight to skylight until whatever it was in the museum stopped at a glass cabinet in the Egypt section and raised his hand to break one of the glass cabinets, this was when Merrick made his move; he dove through the skylight, landing on his feet in front of the man-like creature and grabbed it, pinning it against the wall.

The thing regarded Merrick curiously before sending him flying across the room, seemingly using only it's mind. Merrick hit the wall with a crash and fell to his knees, the thing held out his hand to his left levitating a rather vicious dagger and sending it flying in Merrick's direction but he easily avoided it by rolling to the right. He reached up and grabbed two short swords from the wall and threw one at the creature who seemingly turned to mist and the sword went straight through and clattered harmlessly to the floor. Merrick charged at the creature who had now become once again solid matter and swung at him several times with the sword but each blow was a waste as they were easily dodged, on the eighth swing of the sword the thing grabbed Merrick's arm stopping the sword in it's tracks, the creature then drove it's elbow into Merrick's throat sending him staggering back coughing, the thing then swung with full force across Merrick's face sending once again flying across the room, this time landing in a heap on the floor.

Merrick dragged himself to his feet, whipping a speck of blood from his lip.

"Why'd it have to be a shade."

Merrick took up a fighting stance but it was useless, the shade held up his hand, lifting Merrick of the ground and then with a flick of his wrist sent Merrick across the room for a third time. This time however Merrick did not hit the wall or crash to the floor, he was impaled on one of the many metre and a half long spikes that were around the room 20 feet from the floor.

Merrick looked down and saw a metre of cold steel protruding from his chest and passed out. The shade grinned triumphantly and went back to the glass case he was going to smash before being so rudely interrupted.

TBC


	8. The Morning After

When Tara awoke the next morning she instantly wished she hadn't, she instantly felt as though her head was going to explode; she lay still for a while waiting for the pain to die down enough for her to open her eyes, this took about ten minutes. When she did open her eyes she was pleased to see she was in a dark room, there was a floor to ceiling curtain pulled over and entire side of the room and some light managed to find it's way through; hen she did open her eyes she was pleased to see she was in a dark room, there was a floor to ceiling curtain pulled over and entire side of the room and some light managed to find it's way through.

Tara pulled herself into a sitting position and again had to stop to wait for the blinding pain in her head to die away slightly, when it did she scanned the room taking in her surroundings: there must have been a total of 20 guitars around the room all of various types and shapes, there was also a drum kit in one corner and on a wall was a huge TV. Tara herself was on what has to be the most comfortable sofa she had ever come across, room enough to sleep 4 people, it was in the centre of the room facing the TV.

It was then that she heard the sounds coming from the other room, there was quiet music playing and the sounds of someone moving things around. The sounds stopped and the girl from the club walked in.

"Ah you're awake," she said with a grin, she then reached out and pressed a button on the wall and the curtains mechanically retracted to reveal floor to ceiling window with a stunning view of Los Angeles all the way to the sea.

Tara however could not appreciate this view as the early morning light pouring through the windows made her shield her eyes and grab her head in pain, on seeing this Morgan walked over to her and handed her a glass filled with a strange blue liquid.

"Drink that it'll make your head better." This seemed more of an order than a request and Tara was reminded of Merrick, she hoped this girl didn't know him. She looked up at Morgan who nodded encouragingly, Tara took a small sip of the drink and screwed up her face in disgust, it was horrible.

"No," instructed Morgan "down the hatch."

She tipped the glass back and Tara was forced to drink the foul liquid in one. When the glass was empty she leaned forward feeling as though she was about to throw up, but stopped halfway realising her headache was gone, she looked up at Morgan confused, the musician winked at the witch.

"I'm not just a pretty face."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As the first rays of light drifted through the broken skylight of the Egyptian exhibit of the LA national museum Merrick stirred and opened his eyes gingerly, then remembering where he was he looked down to the metal spike protruding from his chest. Merrick grabbed hold of the cold steel slick with his congealing blood and pulled himself all the way off, he hit the floor and fell in a heap.

He stood up and glanced around him to get his bearing and the started walking down the corridor re-tracing the footsteps of the thing that had put him up there.

The shade for which Merrick was searching was standing in front of the stones Merrick had seen earlier, he had his arms folded and was regarding them curiously.

"It should be working," he said angrily to himself "Why is it not working?!" The shade shouted and kicked a bone from the circle he had made and it went skidding across the room and clanged against the wall.

"Because you're not doing it right."

The shade looked around and saw Merrick standing in the doorway and smiled.

"I don't know how you're still alive, but if you want me to make it permanent I shall." The shade held out his hand and a cruel looking sword appeared there, Merrick looked at it coolly as they circled each other.

When Merrick rounded the Stones he ran his hand over the weapons stuck in them, not quite touching them; when his hand came to hover over the katana a bolt of electricity jumped from the handle to his hand and he took hold of it, pulling it easily from the stone. On seeing this the Shade's face dropped and he uttered just one word:

"Shit."

Merrick raised the sword above his head and threw at the shade who made to block it but was too slow and the sword plunged straight into his chest. He stood there for a moment looking at the sword before he let out a blood curdling scream and what looked like a black thick gas came erupting from his mouth and went straight down into the ground. The man who's body the demon had been occupying fell to the ground, Merrick walked over and removed the sword; he looked at it for a while with sadness in his eyes, but his eyes hardened and he plunged it back into the stone.

It was at this moment that the curator of the museum walked into the room. John was a man of small stature with a bushy beard covering the majority of his face and accentuating the fact that his chin stuck out slightly and hiding the fact that he in fact had a very round childish face. Merrick had always found it funny that the mans surname was actually Smith, in 8000 years he was the first John Smith Merrick had come across.

"Merrick what the hell is going on," the little man looked around in awe at the gruesome scene before him "the floor of the Egyptian exhibit is covered in blood now this, how am I going to explain this?"

Merrick strode over to the Curator and grabbed him by the collar pointing to the stones.

"I told you those were dangerous and should be kept safe, they don't look safe to me john."

"I though they would be safe here." The fear was obvious in the curator's voice, he was being held a full inch off the ground and looking at a dead man lying in a slowly increasing pool of blood.

"Obviously not John, deal with it." Merrick let the man down and swept from the room without another word, The curator called after him.

"You're just going to leave me here to clean up this mess?" He got no reply.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**A few hours later**

Morgan was playing some songs to Tara who was fixated by this girl who, it must be said was amazing. Tara had sensed something special in her last night and she was right, Morgan had treated her nicer than anyone had ever treated her before and she could tell this would be a very good friend. Her thought and Morgan's music were however abruptly interrupted by a knock at the door. Morgan screwed her face into a confused look and put down her guitar, heading for the door.

Now the front door of Morgan's apartment was located through a corridor off the living room so Tara could not see who was at the door, she heard it open and Morgan's surprise and then a brief exchange of inaudible conversation before the door was closed again and two sets of footsteps made their way down the short corridor to the living room, her curiosity spiked Tara sat up to see who was with Morgan but froze when she saw who it was.

When Merrick saw Tara sitting on Morgan's sofa they stared at each other Merrick shocked and Tara a mixture of shocked and terrified.

Morgan stood looking from Tara to Merrick for a full minute before holding up her hands.

"someone has some explaining to do," she stated.


	9. Past and Present part 1

City Of Antioch

The Principality Of Antiochi

Outremer.ii

18th May 1268

The siege had only been going for a couple of day but already the walls were beginning to show their weakness and the lack of soldiers to man them proving to be more problematic than was anticipated. One man lay on his pallet reading a vellum bound book with a puzzled look on his face, a knock on the door made him look up and place the book beneath his straw mattress. The man got up and threw on his creased and bloodstained mantle, white underneath the grime of the past couple of days siege, with a red cross splayed across the chest; the uniform of a Templar knight. The man rubbed his short beard, Templar knights were forbidden from shaving but Merrick kept his beard as closely trimmed as he could get away with; he walked to his door and opened it to reveal young man, no older than 16 standing there with blood covering half his face.

"Are you hurt?" Enquired Merrick

The boy shook his head, panting to catch his breath.

"Take a moment boy, catch your breath"

The boy was wearing a black mantle with a red cross splayed across his chest, a sergeant of the Temple, a knight in training. He took one last deep breath and straightened himself.

"The Mamluksiii have broken the west wall, it won't be long before it comes down. You're wanted on the front line."

Merrick frowned and grabbed his sword, strapping it to his waist whilst running, he emerged from the building and could see nothing for several moments as his eyes adjusted to the light, but when the did what he saw made him freeze. There was a gaping hole in the western wall of the city and it seemed the Mamluks had started concentrating their siege engines on that wall, it would come down in minutes at this rate, and the Muslims outnumbered them inside at least four to one. Once the wall came down the city would fall in less than an hour, and not a soul inside would be spared, Merrick had seen it before. He cursed under his breath, he had a more important mission than defending a city, he turned and went back inside.

Merrick grabbed the book from under his mattress and turned to leave when he was thrown into the wall knocking over several jugs of wine as the earth gave an almighty shake. The wall had fallen. He threw the book and a loaf of bread into a sack and ran out the door. He heard the war cries of knights and Muslims alike and saw just a cloud of bloody smoke where the where the centre of the west wall once stood, he saw fellow knights he had known for many years falling under Mamluk swords with blood curdling screams; and he turned away from it all and ran down an alley.

Merrick negotiated the beehive of alleyways with practised ease, he had prepared for this situation long ago, knowing the walls of Antioch could not withstand the force of the Mamluk army should they set their sights on it. Halfway down one alley a couple of Mamluk soldiers saw him and made a beeline for him, swords drawn. Merrick cursed to himself and drew his sword. The mantle of a Templar granted him respect, power and the contacts he needed for this mission, it made him all too conspicuous in this situation though. He dodged the sword of the first warrior and brought his own up into the second, the curved sword finding the exposed flesh just under the armpit of the soldier and almost cutting the man clean in half, however Merrick's sword was now stuck and he spun the man around to take the blow of the first soldier, which sunk deep into his comrade's shoulder, Merrick loosed his blade and brought it crashing down into the man's skull.

Merrick tightened hi hold on his bag and continued down the alleyway. He emerged on a street that could not be avoided and had to roll to dodge a Mamluk spear, he picked up a discarded javelin from the floor and threw it with expert accuracy and it sent the Mamluk flying from his horse. Merrick turned and saw a sword coming straight for him and only just managed to get his own sword up in time to avoid losing his head, he spun around swinging his sword behind him as the rider passed and cut the horse along the back of it's knees sending the beast crashing to the floor and the rider catapulting off its back.iv

The rider got to his feet, his helmet having been discarded, and advanced on Merrick who saw the tell-tale star shaped white defect in the centre of one of his pupils, it was the Lion of the East, the Crossbow. Sultan Baybarsv himself. Merrick frowned, it was not his place to kill kings and change the course of history. Baybars advanced on him, both swords drawn and a murderous rage in his eyes, he attacked with a fury and skill that surprised Merrick and made him drop his bag and concentrate on the fight, gripping his sword with both hands. Merrick was surprised by the sultan's fighting skill, he knew the man was legendary, but then so was Merrick. And Merrick had many years more experience, but still he was fighting harder than he's had to in a while, he parried a strike at his neck with a flick of his sword and brought up his elbow which connected with Baybars' chin sending him stumbling backwards, but the sultan brought up his other sword with lightning speed and cut a deep gash in Merrick's cheek. The warriors stopped for a second and sized each other up, panting and circling like lions; then the fight started again with Baybars charging Merrick and Merrick fending off his blows again.

Then Merrick got lucky and managed to catch hold of one of Baybars' arms and push it aside giving himself an opening, he slashed viciously across the sultan's chest and kicked him to the ground, the sultan looked up at him, a look of surprise on his face. Then Merrick heard a whistling sound and turned just in time to cut down a spear that was coming straight for him, the rider who threw the spear drew his sword and bore down on Merrick, who ducked the man's blade and threw his own which buried itself in his back just below the neck, he turned and saw another rider coming towards him, spear held out in front. Merrick stepped aside and caught hold of the man's spear and sending him flying from his horse and into a wall where he lay limply. He then ran over to the man in whom his sword was and pulled it free, the sunlight glinting off the bloodstained blade and blinding him for a second, but it was enough and he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

Merrick looked from the arrow in his shoulder to the end of the street where at least thirty riders were charging down the street shouting their sultan's name. Merrick turned to run down a side-street but had to throw himself to the ground avoid arrows coming from soldiers the emerged from a doorway. He looked around and saw he was surrounded, trapped. Merrick lay on the ground as one warrior approached him, sword drawn and kicked Merrick's sword away, he then raised his sword and was about to strike when a shout stayed his hand. Baybars was on his feet.

"You are the first person to ever defeat me in battle, do you understand me?" The sultan spoke in Arabic and Merrick nodded, he had studied the language before coming to Outremer. "You would have killed me today had fate not intervened as it did, so you shall be left to the hand of fate." The sultan kicked Merrick's sword towards him and motioned him to stand.

You may leave, if you survive the dessert then you may live on, if not then fate is not as kind to you as it is to me. Go now."

Merrick, not wanting to try his luck got to his feet and walked away, he could feel the eyes of the soldiers on him, he gave one last look back and saw Baybars bending to pick up his book, his jaw tightened and he left the city of Antioch.

Los Angeles

2006

Merrick's eyes snapped open and he fell off his sofa, hitting his head on the coffee table. He shook his head, got his bearing and stood up. Of all the things in his past to dream about, why that; it was nothing, a blip in his history. Merrick looked at his bedroom door and his brow creased in a frown.

The night before

"THE Tara Maclay?" Morgan's eyes were wide with the realisation of what it meant

"Yes, you know of her?"

"I know of what happened, and believe me Merrick I don't want to be anywhere near when Willow finds out what you've done. And don't think you can handle Willow Rosenberg Merrick, she'll be beyond even you if she loses it again."

"Perhaps."

"Your arrogance will be your undoing Merrick." She stuffed her favourite guitar in it's case and picked up her suitcase of clothes and essentials. "I'd rather not be around to see it."

"Where will you go?"

"I have a house in Wales, I'll go and stay there for a while, probably visit my parents." She stopped at her bedroom door and turned back to him "I may not approve but you're in this now, take care of her."

She opened her bedroom door and walked over to Tara who was sitting on the sofa, she but down her guitar and suitcase and embraced the girl.

"His methods may seem odd at times Tara, but you can trust Merrick."

Tara looked up and sighed.

"You're leaving?"

"Yes, I have to go see my parents."

"But I just met you." The sadness in Tara's eyes was apparent. The girl obviously never had many friends. Morgan took out a piece of paper and wrote down several phone numbers and an e-mail address.

"Keep in touch OK?"

Tara nodded and Morgan headed for the door. She tossed her key to Merrick.

"Look after the place for me will you."

Merrick nodded and Morgan left. He turned to Tara and held out his hand.

"We should go home," she nodded and got to her feet.

Merrick went into his kitchen and poured himself a glass of milk, the dream still perplexing him. He had all but forgotten his time as a Templar. Then with the glass halfway to his mouth he had an idea and set the un-drunk milk down on his counter and headed for the door, throwing his coat on.

iDuring the time of the crusades (11th century to 13th century) the land of Outremer was divided into 4 states, these were the Kingdom Of Jerusalem, The Principality Of Antioch and the counties of Tripoli and Edessa.

iiOutremer was what the Christians called the holy land, the word means abroad or 'land beyond the sea'.

iii Mamluks (Arabic: مملوك (singular), مماليك (plural), "owned"; also transliterated mameluk, mameluke, or mamluke) was a slave soldier who converted to Islam and served the Muslim caliphs and the Ayyubid sultans during the Middle Ages. Over time, they became a powerful military caste, and on more than one occasion they seized power for themselves, for example ruling Egypt in the Mamluk Sultanate from

ivNo horses were harmed in the writing of this chapter.

vBaibars al-Bunduqdari (also spelled Baybars) (Arabic : ‬بيبرس‭ ‬البندقداري) (epithet: al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari (Arabic الملك‭ ‬الظاهر‭ ‬ركن‭ ‬الدين‭ ‬بيبرس‭ ‬البندقداري)) (1223 – July 1, 1277) was a Mamluk Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He was a Kipchak Turk[1[2 captured and sold in Kipchak steppe. It was said that he was captured by the Mongols and sold as a slave, ending up in syria.

He was a commander of the Mamluks in around 1250, when he defeated the Seventh Crusade of Louis IX of France. He was still a commander under Sultan Qutuz at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. After the battle he killed Sultan Qutuz on a hunting expedition, because he expected that he would be rewarded with the governorship of Aleppo for his military success; but Qutuz, fearing his ambition, refused to give such a post and disappointed him. Baibars then took power for himself and became Sultan.


	10. Past and Present part 2

Tara's eyes blinked open but she couldn't see anything for a full minute while they got used to the light pouring from her window, she was so exhausted last night she forgot to close the curtains. She pulled herself into a sitting position on the bed and leaned back against the wall, trying to make sense of last night; it was then that she heard the front door open and close. Her curiosity getting the better of her she dropped her feet out of the bed and into her slippers and made her way to her bedroom door. She opened it slightly and peered into the living room, empty.

Tara pushed her door open and let it bang against the wall, she walked into the living room and, realising Merrick had left her alone folded her arms.

"Thanks Merrick. See, now you've got me talking to my-" She dropped her head to her hands and sighed "shut up Tara."

She sat heavily on the couch and leaned back, her thoughts drifting inevitably to Morgan.

The Day Before

After Morgan had forced Tara to drink the medicine, she said she had to go to the shop and left, leaving Tara alone in this incredible apartment. Needless to say she wasted no time in beginning her exploration and finally found herself in the kitchen. It was a modern, brightly lit kitchen with very little in it, the microwave oddly being the focal point. Tara backed out of the kitchen and must have been too absorbed in her thoughts to hear the door because when she turned around she found herself face to face with Morgan and a bag of groceries. The two girls stood there for a very long moment looking at each other before leaning in slightly as though to kiss but stopping and Tara stepped aside to let the girl into her own kitchen, blushing madly.

Later the two sat on the sofa and Morgan played Tara some of her songs, the two stealing glances at each other when the other wasn't looking.

_You were worth all of my blood shed,_

_as guilty as you were, you struggled for the best_

_But I never understood, I couldn't work you out_

_you did everything you could and I know that now._

Tara looked up as the song finished and noticed a solitary tear in Morgan's eye.

"That was amazing, who's it about?"

Morgan smiled at Tara.

"A girl, a fiasco, yet oddly one of my less costly mistakes."

Tara smiled at this and turned away from Morgan, not wanting to spoil the moment, she looked around the room and after feeling she'd left and adequate length of time for old emotions to settle she turned back.

"Why do you have to many?" Morgan raised her eyebrows and Tara blushed realising the stupidity of what she'd said.

"G-g-guitars I mean." She mentally kicked herself repeatedly for this, stuttering in front of this girl like that, she was going to think she was some kind of weirdo or something. Although quite the contrary, Morgan thought this was incredibly adorable behaviour from the young witch, she smiled.

"ah, because they're pretty."

Tara looked at her questioningly.

"Some girls have lots of shoes, some have lots of earrings. I have guitars; lots of them." Tara chuckled at this and so the morning and early afternoon passed by with snippets of conversation between songs, each gradually getting to know the other a little bit more until Merrick arrived and he and Morgan went to have their 'talk'. The rest, as they say, is history.

Present

Tara snapped back into reality and leaned forward, why did she miss this girl already. She decided it was time for a coffee and headed for the kitchen.

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After Merrick left his apartment he headed down the corridor only to be intercepted by an old man wearing very big sunglasses sitting at the bottom of the stairs.

Merrick looked at the old man and sighed.

"what do you want Methuselah?"

"Do you know who's in town?"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me"

Methuselah got up and leaned down to whisper in Merrick's ear.

"Baybars."

"Didn't he die in like," Merrick stopped to think "1277?"

"Yes, poisoned. By his own son no less. But it seems he's here now, I'm curious to find out how."

"I'm not your errand boy Methuselah." Merrick headed for the door, meaning to end the conversation there, but Methuselah was having none of it and put his hand on Merrick's shoulder.

"We'd also like our book back."

"Ah I was wondering when that would come up."

"You lost it, all you had to do was bring it from one place to another and you couldn't manage that. Now you could have an opportunity to get it back we would very much like you to take it."

"You honestly think he has it after all this time?"

"Well it's worth asking Merrick."

Merrick turned around and started walking up the stairs, Methuselah pulled of his sunglasses and called after him.

"Where are you going?"

"I'll have a better chance of finding him at night, I'm going to prepare."

Merrick continued up the stairs and let himself into his apartment, Tara was sitting on the sofa with a steaming mug of coffee and looked up at him when he walked in, he smiled at her in passing and she returned it.

"How do you know Morgan?" She shot of the question as though she was afraid she wouldn't ask if she waited any longer.

"I hit her with a samurai sword, thought it was funny at the time I guess. She helped me with some stuff and I helped her with some stuff. She's probably the closest thing I have to a friend." He headed to his cabinet and selected a rather old looking curved katana and headed for his bedroom.

Tara was taken aback by the offhand way in which Merrick said this statement which revealed more about him to her than anything he'd said or done over the past week. It was almost as though he didn't think it was something important, she decided not to pry and watched silently as he went into his room and closed the door. She heard metal scraping metal and knew he was sharpening the sword, she almost felt sorry for whatever was going to meet that blade tonight.

A sunset in Los Angeles would be a beautiful thing if people weren't too wrapped up in their own superiority to take a moment out of their lives to watch it. Tara wasn't such a person and did take those few moments and was standing at Merrick's window watching the sun set over the city of angels when Merrick's door opened and he walked out dressed all in black and wearing a long coat, he was tucking the sword inside the coat. They locked eyes for a moment but neither said anything and Merrick once again left Tara alone.

Searching for a nasty thing that should be dead in LA at night is like looking for a needle in a pile of needles, Merrick walked down a hundred alleys and saved a hundred slutty girls in short dresses from hungry vampires who didn't really care how much leg they could see. But finally he got lucky, he was walking down another alley when he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see the very man he'd been looking for, it seemed Baybars had found him.

"It's been a long time."

"Yes, black suits you a lot better than red an white Merrick." Baybars it seemed had lost none of his middle eastern accent over the years.

How do you know my name?" Baybars chuckled and Merrick waved his own question aside "Never mind, I don't really care. I would like to know how you're still alive though?"

Baybars answered this question by turning his face into a ridged, feral fanged mask and Merrick nodded.

"Ah, that explains it. And I don't suppose... the book?"

Baybars grinned, or did the best he could with his face in it's current state.

"I didn't come here to chat with you." He threw off his coat revealing two sabres strapped in shoulder holsters and he drew them both and threw himself at Merrick.

Merrick drew his own sword and parried Baybars' attacks, again noting how very skilled the man was with a sword. The vampire was with a sword. The fight raged on as both combatants ducked and weaved and parried and attacked, seeming to match each other blow for blow; then Merrick used and old fencing technique designed for use against an opponent with two weapons and created an opening, he kicked Baybars hard in the chest sending him crashing through a rotting wooden fence. But that wasn't it, one of Baybars' sabres came hurtling through the hole in the fence and buried itself in Merrick's chest. Merrick cried out in shock and pain and took hold of the hilt of the sabre and pulled it out as Baybars emerged.

"You shouldn't have done that Baybars, now I have two weapons."

Merrick launched the offensive this time and began throwing hundreds of different attacks at Baybars from a hundred awkward angles, and it was all Baybars could do to keep up a defence, but it didn't last long. Merrick slipped knocked his defences away with his own sword and brought his Baybars' sabre slicing up across the vampires chest, he then spun around in a move that would have taken Baybars' head off but he moved just in time and the sword only just sliced a thin red cut across his neck; but Merrick wasn't done and once again planted his foot firmly into Baybars' chest sending him this time through a window, screams were the only thing that came out this time.

Merrick jumped through the window and lowered his swords and sighed when he saw what was in front of him.

"Let the boy go Baybars."

Baybars smiled and tightened his hold on the child drawing his sword closer to his neck.

"Throw down your swords."

Merrick sighed and threw them on the kitchen table and Baybars threw the boy against the wall and lunged at Merrick, who easily dodged his sword and brought his elbow up to meet Baybars' face, closely followed by a right hook and a devastating uppercut that lifted him off his feet and placed him on the table. Merrick kicked Baybars' sword away and in the same movement spun around catching Baybars in the solarplexis with a devastating roundhouse kick, possibly the most dangerous move in karate, and had Baybars been human it would have most certainly mashed every organ in his body to a pulp and made his eyes pop clear out of his head. But it didn't, it sent him soaring into a wall where he stood stunned and gagging; and Merrick didn't give him time to recover, he grabbed him and threw him back out the window, then followed.

"You know where it all went wrong Baybars?" Merrick looked up at the sky as the first few drops of rain hit his face, then back down and Baybars as the downpour started "It was when you made me put down my swords. I'm stronger than you, and faster than you. The only reason you held against me with a sword was because of your exeptional skill, but hand to hand you didn't have a chance."

Merrick heard the whistling even over the rain and spun around snatching the arrow out of the air and flung it back in the direction it came and was rewarded with the sound of a vampire bursting into dust.

"Arrows in the back, you didn't actually think that would work did you?"

"No, it was a distraction."

Merrick turned around and found himself staring down two very big handguns, he only had time for one word.

"Shit."

Baybars fired, and kept firing, and the bullets slammed into Merrick making him stagger back with the force of them until he found his back against the wall, he drew in a ragged breath and lifted his head just in time to see, as though in slow motion, a bullet coming straight for his head.

Then.

Black.

Song lyrics belong to Kayleigh Morgan ( 


	11. Past and Present part 3

Tara glanced at the clock, her hand poised unsteadily two inches over the phone; it was only eleven, of course she'd be awake. Tara picked up the receiver and dialled the phone number she'd managed to memorise already and waited for the long distance call to connect, hoping Merrick wasn't too worried about his phone bill. When she heard the ringing she held her breath unconsciously, and continued to hold it until she heard a voice on the other side after four rings.

"You do realise it's four in the morning, this had better be good."

The sigh Tara had started to release at the answering of the phone halted mid breath and cursed herself.

"Oh my God, I-I-I'm sorry. Dammit I forgot about the time zones." Tara buried her head in her hand and cursed herself in her head with every vulgar swear word she knew, which was a surprisingly large number.

The laughter at the other end of the line made her raise her head, her eyes teary and her expression resembling a kicked puppy.

"Don't worry, I'm usually up at four in the morning for some reason or another, it's pretty much the only time I can write songs. Today it's jet lag. So I've come up with the genius idea of staying awake until tomorrow night and then sleep to get my sleeping pattern back into whack. It'll work... I hope..." There was a crunching sound as though Morgan was eating crisps or something and Tara chuckled.

"Ok sweetie, I'm sure it'll all turn out fine..." Tara was no actor and could not easily keep the scepticism out of her voice.

"You doubt me do you? Well, I'll show you. Anyway, what did you want?"

"Oh." Tara hadn't anticipated what she'd say after making the call, just making the call had been the focal point of her thought since Merrick left. "Just to, you know, talk?"

"M'ok, talk then."

Tara went silent, without a clue what to say to this girl and feeling very awkward on the phone, finally she just blurted out.

"Merrick hit you with a sword?" She once again mentally kicked herself for being an idiot.

"Yeah, who told you that?"

"Um, M-M-Merrick" Tara did not want to continue this topic but couldn't just change the subject now.

"Oh he did, did he?"

Tara was saved from making more of a fool of herself by an urgent knocking at the door and was about to tell Morgan she had to go when she was saved the trouble.

"I heard, I'll speak to you again sweetie."

Tara said her goodbyes and hung up and headed for the door, looking through the peep-hole to see who'd be knocking on Merrick's door. What she saw was a tall man seeming to be around mid 30's, he looked like he hadn't shaved in days; or slept for that matter. Tara didn't know why she opened the door, but she did. It might have been his eyes, welcoming pale and bluey-grey, with an unmemorable face that was soft and open, yet rugged and harsh at the same time. The kind of face and eyes you could spill your heart out to and then forget what it looked like after it left. Or it might have just been plain old female curiosity, we'll never know. But we all know what happened to that cat.

But Tara was no cat and would not let curiosity get the better of her, she left the security chain on when she opened the door and enquired the purpose of the call.

"I'm a friend of Merrick's, he's in trouble." Came the reply, in a breezy Australian accent that made Tara think of dolphins, and the sea, and that she could trust this person.

"And when you say friend..." Tara was determined to keep her wits about her, she wasn't going to give Merrick another excuse to think she was useless.

"I mean I know him, Merrick doesn't really have friends."

Tara hesitated and thought through, she was sure she could trust this person; but there was something nagging her not to.

"Look, Merrick needs help, and time is somewhat of the essence. So grab your coat and let's go, or slam the door in my face. You have five seconds to make a decision. Five. Four. Three-"

"Ok Ok I'm coming." Tara ran to the bedroom and threw on her coat and ran back to the door, pulling off the security chain. She was about to step into the hall when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You'll need weapons." Tara nodded in agreement and ran back into the house and started looking in Merrick's weapon cupboard, the stranger rolled his eyes at this.

Tara selected two stakes from Merrick's collection and then decided to take a hip flask sized bottle of holy water for good measure, she then proceeded back to the door, this time meeting no resistance. She closed it and then realised she couldn't lock it because she didn't have the key, but decided if Merrick really was in trouble then he wouldn't mind her leaving his door unlocked to go save him. If he wasn't really in trouble then leaving his door unlocked would be the least of her problems.

Walking down the stairs with this stranger Tara did a mental back flip and kicked herself in the ass, she hadn't even asked his name. She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity and rectified her mistake and asked for his name. She did not get an immediate answer, rather he smiled and then his jaw tensed, as though he was debating with himself whether or not to tell her.

"Where I grew up, we didn't have names. They gave us code names. They called me Taipan. So, I figure you could call me Tai, or Pan. But I'd prefer Tai."

Tara could not decide whether to find this hilariously funny, or deeply sad; so she decided to keep both down and just nod in acknowledgement.

When they got out of the apartment building Tai headed straight for an old, average looking black sedan and opened the drivers side door, Tara was beginning to think that he liked being unimpressive and that he actually worked at it. She had a million questions she wanted to ask him but she knew that if she did ask she wouldn't get a straight answer. He gunned the engine and pulled out without looking and was rewarded with blaring car horns, but he ignored these and floored the gas, screeching into the late night traffic of the city of angels.

Tai seemed to know the city very well and took side streets and alleyways with hardly a pause to think, avoiding traffic wherever possibly. All in all this cut their journey time in half and they soon screeched to a halt outside an old building site, closed and dead for the night.

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Merrick was jarred awake by a heavy boot smashing into his jaw, he opened his eyes and tried to move but was rewarded with a pain in his chest and the clinking of chains.

"Easy Jacques, I want him awake, not more unconscious." Said a familiar voice.

Merrick looked up at Baybars, and then to the vampire he was addressing. A tall, unpleasant looking creature with filthy black hair and dirty fingernails. Merrick wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Jacques? I'm going to kill you first."

Jacques raised his boot and was about to kick Merrick again when a feral growl from Baybars stayed him. He sniffed and took a step back, allowing Baybars to kneel down in front of Merrick.

"I don't think you're in any position to be making threats are you?"

Merrick flinched from Baybars.

"Did no one ever teach you about breath mints?"

Baybars smiled and leaned in closer to Merrick.

"I'm going to enjoy torturing you." He leaned back on the balls of his feet and stood up, walking away from Merrick.

"You know, I sorta saw this being the other way around in my head." Merrick turned away and looked thoughtful, as though he was trying to work out how this had happened.

Meanwhile this entire scene was being watched by Tara and Tai, crouching behind two barrels high above. Tai turned to Tara and whispered to her.

"I'm going to need you to cause a distraction."

"WHAT?!" Tara looked shocked, as though Tai had just asked her to run around naked "how on earth am I supposed to do that?"

"Oh come on, use your imagination." Tara looked at a complete loss, moving her mouth but making no sound as the words simply refused to come out.

"Make something go bang, I don't know. Anything, I just need them distracted."

Tara looked thoughtful for a moment and then smiled, she sat on the floor and closed her eyes, then began muttering under her breath. After about half a minute of muttering she breathed out a cloud of what looked like silver mist which soon vanished into the rest of the air around it, she smiled at Tai who gave her a questioning look.

"Give it a minute."

And a minute was given, then suddenly tiny but very bright white light began popping down amongst the vampires below, like someone was setting off small, silent fireworks. Tai grinned widely as he saw the confusion this caused.

"Amazing. Really well done, now stay here and keep your head down." He kicked over a dustbin and jumped on the lid as it fell off. Using his weight for momentum and the lid for balance he began riding it down the slope like a snowboard, he pulled a gun from inside his jacket and took aim at one of the vampires. The vampire saw this and smiled, and was still smiling as Tai pulled the trigger and a bullet slammed into his chest. But the smile faded as he burst into dust. Tai had pulled a second gun out and was aiming at another vampire, but this one, seeing his companion dusted by one of the bullets decided that he was not going to make such an easy target and dove out of the way as several bullets slammed into the floor directly behind where he was just standing.

Tara watched this with a mixture of awe and curiosity, she was impressed by this unexpected display of skill from Tai. However in her musings she forgot she was in battle and wasn't paying attention around her and was brought hastily back to reality by a deep snarl to her left. She stood up and saw a vampire approaching her, looking very hungry. The vampire lunged at her and she flinched. But she hadn't forgotten Merrick's lesson, she used the movement to grab the bottle of holy water from her back pocket and as the vamp reached her she swung it full force and smashed it against his head; he reeled, howling in pain. Tara grabbed the stake and with a triumphant shout plunged it into her opponents chest. But he didn't burst into dust, merely more shouting in pain and Tara looked confused, but she realised her mistake: she's missed his heart. She grabbed her second stake and this time didn't miss, and the vampire burst into dust and both stakes clattered to the floor. She grinned at her victory but it was short lived as a second vampire grabbed her in a body lock from behind and she screamed.

Merrick was watching this from below and smiled when he saw Tara dust the first vampire but his smile faded when he saw her grabbed from behind. He strained and scrunched his face with effort, then there was a loud crunching pop and he slipped his dislocated shoulder easily out of the chains. He then reached around and found the large padlock that was holding the chains and with a swift tug broke it and the chains fell uselessly and he stood up. The vampire known as Jacques was on him immediately, and Merrick threw him against the wall, he then broke off a piece of wood from a nearby fence used it as a makeshift stake to kill him.

"Told you I'd kill you first didn't I," he said to the cloud of dust.

He looked up at Tara struggling with her assailant and saw his opening as the vampire released from the body lock and turned her to face him, he had a window of merely a second before she'd be in front of him again and Merrick threw the piece of wood so hard it became a blur and hit it's target directly, causing Tara to be obscured momentarily by a cloud of dust. Merrick saw Tai finish off his second vamp and did a quick dust-pile count.

"Baybars." He muttered.

He looked around and saw a coat tail disappear into a doorway three floors above and went after. He ran toward the pillar he was tied to previously and leapt off it onto a second and then onto the floor he wanted to be on. He then took off at a run to the doorway the coat went into, he looked around the room when he got in, it was full of clutter but Baybars was nowhere to be found. Suddenly the wine of an electric engine cut the silence and Merrick turned to see a forklift truck speeding towards him, he was thrown against the far wall by the force of the impact and the truck kept coming, Baybars at the controls. Merrick frowned and ran at the advancing truck, but he jumped at the last minute and landed on the trucks roof, grabbing the edge he used his continued momentum to swing through the door less cab of the truck and kick Baybars in the side of the head, sending the vampire out the other side, Merrick followed and landed feet first next to Baybars. He dragged the vampire to his feet and threw him out the door, Baybars fell the three stories to the ground and landed with a thud. Merrick walked out the door too and put his hand on the railing, which he vaulted, landing only centimetres from Baybars' head. He grabbed the former sultan of Egypt and dragged him to the pillar.

"Where's the book Baybars?"

Baybars looked defeated and let out a sigh.

"I burned the damn thing, I couldn't translate it and neither could any of my advisers, so I burnt it."

"I thought you would, but I had to ask." Merrick crouched down so he was level with Baybars "why'd you do it? Why'd you sell your soul?"

"I thought it'd be worth it."

"Eternal life never lives up to it's expectation, especially after the first couple of hundred years." Baybars nodded his agreement and Merrick continued "sometimes I wish I had never taken it, the gift as I thought it at the time. A naïve dying boy who wanted to live forever. My gift became my curse and I wish I could take it back. I'll make it quick."

He got up and picked up a jagged piece of wood and approached Baybars, who did not once flinch or look away. When it was done Merrick turned to Tara and she saw, for the first time since she'd known him, how wise and tormented he really was. But it lasted only for a moment and his face was once again impassive. He was a blur of movement as he knocked Tai's gun from his hand and pinned him against the wall.

"Now, who the hell are you?"


	12. Those squirrels, that are dead pt1

**A.N.** Sorry this chapter took so long, I hit a wall and just couldn't write. It's not much of a chapter I'm afraid, it's only purpose is to get you to the next chapter. But the next chapter will be worth getting to, I promise! Anyway, here you go:

**Those stupid squirrels, that are dead!**

"Is he back yet?"

Tara shook her head and stepped aside to let Tai into the apartment. It had been three weeks since the incident with Baybars, and after getting a reasonable explanation from Tai, Merrick told them both he had something to take care of and left, and had not been back since. As it turns out Tai was actually ex Australian special forces, according to him his entire team were taken out by werewolves and he'd been quite the accomplished solo demon hunter ever since. He said he'd heard about Merrick and was looking into him when he saw what happened with Baybars and went to get Tara to stage a rescue and he also said he wanted to help out. Merrick had accepted this and allowed him to hang around and to keep an eye on Tara while he was away.

"He's been gone three full weeks now," said Tara as she pulled out two mugs and began making tea, which she had grown quite fond of as Merrick drank so much of it.

"And he didn't say anything about where he was going?"

"No, not a word."

Tai took his tea and leaned his chair back against the wall, this had been the ritual pretty much every day since Merrick had left, Tai would come over and they would drink tea and speculate as to Merrick's mysterious destination. Their speculation was however interrupted this time by the phone ringing. It never rang. Tara answered it.

"Erm, hello?"

"Oh hi Tara, is Merrick around doll?"

Tara froze up on hearing Morgan's voice.

"I-I-I, Y-y-yes, I'll. N-n-no he," she stopped and took a deep breath "he hasn't been here for about three weeks."

"Oh, damn. Yeah he does that, occasionally he'll just up and vanish. Sometimes for years at a time."

"Oh, wow that's comforting..."

At that very moment the door opened and in walked Merrick. His hair was longer than when they saw him last, it fell in a grizzled mane around his face; which had quite heavy stubble on it frown lines that were extremely prominent. He looked like he hadn't slept or washed since they last saw him. He shrugged off his scruffy old coat and threw it in the corner followed by his jumper and he walked topless into the kitchen, completely ignoring Tara.

"Um, Merrick, Phone?" She held out the phone tentatively and Merrick gave her a look that, if looks could kill, would have killed her and her next seven incarnations. Never the less he took the phone from her and made several grunting noises, then:

"Jesus Morgan, I just walked through the door..." more chatter from the other line, then: "yeah, I got what I went for, or at least as much as could be got." More chatter "Fine, we'll get the next flight out once I've showered okay. See you soon." He hung up without waiting for a reply.

Merrick then walked into the kitchen and pointed to the two cups of tea on the table and asked which was who's and when Tara pointed out hers Merrick took the other mug and drank it down in one. He then turned to Tai and rubbed his temples.

"What're you doing here?"

"You told me to keep an eye on Tara, and that I was welcome here. You also said you'd forget this when you got back."

Merrick nodded, apparently appeased by this.

"Well, go back to wherever you're staying and pack a bag. I should think pack for a light couple of weeks." Tai frowned but didn't argue, he got up and left the apartment. Merrick turned to Tara.

"Same to you, pack some stuff. I'm going to shower."

Some twenty minutes later Tara emerged from the bedroom to find a considerably cleaner, shaved Merrick standing in the living room; his now ridiculously long hair pulled back in a tight pony-tail. He looked at the large sports bag Tara was carrying and shook his head.

"That's too big, we're only taking hand luggage, I don't do waiting around for bags to come through." Tara looked thoroughly shocked by this but proceeded to empty the contents of her bag into a smaller bag so she could take it on the plane with her and not have to log it into the plane's cargo. When she had done this Merrick nodded and they left the apartment. They were met on the street by Tai who was sitting in his car which smelled faintly of male cat and Fosters lager. Tai once again took off with absolutely no regard for other road users and they made it to the airport in record time.

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Cardiff airport.

Some 16 hours later.

Isn't it funny how, no matter where you go, all airports look the same. From Los Angeles to outer Mongolia. Always the same, too many windows, too many shops and too many queues. Always looking over modern and always looking out of place. Into just one of these generic airports walked three people with nothing but hand luggage.

"Wales?" Tai's voice had more than a hint of confusion in it. Merrick took a deep breath.

"Wales!"

"I've never been to the UK before," said Tara breathlessly, rushing to catch up with the two taller men "actually this is the first time I've been out of America!"

"Well, you couldn't have picked a worse place to go on your first trip abroad, quite a shit-hole this country. I don't know if it's even an official country."

"Yeah, but what the hell are we doing here?" Tai looked around in confusion at the airport that any South Wales resident would have called packed but was, by LA standards, a miserably quiet dive.

"You'll find out soon enough, come on we have at least a two hour drive ahead of us."

Merrick gout out to the airport's long stay car park and pulled a tangle of keys from his pocket, he selected a Citroen car key from the tangle and walked over to an old mint green Saxo.

"Oh I do hope this piece of shit still works, I'm not sure when I last started it..."

He unlocked the door and climbed in to the driver's seat, he put the key in the ignition and turned it. Nothing. He tried again. A cough. Third time lucky, he pumped the gas to flood the engine and this time the car started after much protesting.

"Ok everyone in, let's go!"

It took Merrick a while to get used to the clutch and gear changing of the French manual, right hand drive car and they stalled several times before they even left the airport car park. Thankfully he did drive on the right, or rather left side of the road the entire time and they pulled up outside a medium sized semi-detached house just over 2 hours after leaving the airport.

"Ok wait here, I'll go see what's what."

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Meanwhile...

Morgan lay on her back, an impish smile plastered on her face as she looked up at the ceiling with glazed eyes, the smile faded into a grin and she looked down.

"Hey!"

A pretty, pale, blonde head emerged from under the covers and ginned at Morgan.

"Who said you could stop?" Morgan said, and pulled the blonde into a hungry kiss, Morgan rolled her partner over so she had the girl pinned down. The door opened and someone cleared their throat. Morgan leapt up and covered herself with the quilt and went beet red.

"I'm just... gonna go out... and come back in... OK?" Said Merrick

Morgan simply nodded, and Merrick left the room and closed the door. Morgan leapt out of bed and threw on a robe. This time Merrick knocked on the door and entered and had to duck to avoid being hit with the airborne chair that smashed against the wall where his head was.

"Merrick what the fuck where you thinking?! Don't you knock?!" Morgan was furious, her face was redder than Merrick though was humanly possible and she was screaming at him, and as a singer she could scream pretty loud.

"No, you know this. You called me and knew I was coming, it's not my fault you decide now to start some shenanigans."

"How the hell did you get in anyway?!"

"Your mother let me in."

"Oh no, she's home?" The colour drained from Morgan's face and she rushed and closed the door behind Merrick muttering curses under her breath.

"Are you going to run around muttering expletives all day or are you going to introduce me?" Morgan looked at Merrick in confusion and then her face formed an 'O' and she made to introduce the girl in her bed but no words came out. The blonde giggled at this and got out of the bed, not bothering to cover herself up.

"Hi, I'm Tena, that's with an 'E'."

"Hi Tena, I'm Merrick, with an 'M'." Tena burst into another fit of giggles at this and shook Merrick's hand. Morgan stood in the corner looking horrified.

"Tena, darling, aren't you going to put something on?" Tena looked down at herself and looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded. She walked around the bed and picked up a blue sweater and pulled it over herself, it went all the way down to her knees. Merrick smiled at the scene that had just unfolded and opened the door.

"So, let's have some tea and you can tell me all about this problem then..."

**E.N.** The name 'Tena' is pronounced the same as Tina, it's spelled Tena because it's short for something else which shall be revealed later.


	13. Those squirrels, that are dead pt2

**Those Squirrels, That Are Dead Pt2**

Tena took a large sip of her steaming hot tea and sighed heavily.

"I moved into a farmhouse a few miles from here, up near Kidwelly, it really is a lovely place. Well anyway I moved in and it was all fine until about a month later when the full moon came around. Until three days ago I'd have called any person who'd mentioned the notion to me a raving lunatic. But now, well now I've seen it with my own eyes. Werewolves. About four of them that I saw. They attacked the house and killed the other girl I was living with. I only just managed to get away, as horrid as it sounds I got to my car while they were busy with Sarah-" Tena broke off here and a tear slid down her cheek and she took another sip from her tea. Morgan took over.

"Now here's where it gets weird. I've shown her several pictures and descriptions of werewolves and she says not one of them matches what she saw. From what she described them to me as they were much more human that normal werewolves. None of that running around on all fours nonsense." Merrick frowned at this description which caused a look of concern to appear on Morgan's face "so you have no idea what it means either?"

"I can honestly say I have never come across werewolves other than the common ones." said Merrick solemnly, leaning back in his chair. Tai spoke then, for the first time since they had entered the house.

"I have."

Every head in the room turned to Tai, who was staring intently into his mug of tea, he took a deep breath and then his narrative began.

"I was stationed in Burma. This must have been oh, almost ten years ago. Well we were out there for a covert tactical strike, the mission was to take out a Chinese drug cartel that had set up a base in the middle of the Burmese jungle and who were really getting under the skin of the Aussie government by this point. The group I was with were Australian special military, very similar to your SAS." He nodded at Morgan, directing this statement at her "but I was working for ASIS at the time, that's Australian Secret Intelligence Service. We were making perfect time and got to our designated camping spot about and hour before dark, it was a perfect spot, a clearing with a sheer cliff at our back and the forest at our fronts; we wanted to make sure no-one could sneak up on us in the dark. The moon that night was huge, I can still remember it clearly to this day. We heard things moving out beyond the tree line, we assumed it to be just animals but not wanting to be caught with our trousers down we set a watch just in case. I couldn't tell you what time it was when I woke up, checking my watch was the last thing on my mind. I knew as soon as I opened my eyes something was up, I couldn't work it out at first and it took me a minute to realise that what was up was that the guy we'd set to watch was being eaten. I don't know who it was, I didn't know how long I'd been asleep so I had no idea who's watch it was, and none of the men were in any fit identifiable state afterwards. It must have been seconds between me noticing something was wrong and picking up my gun but it felt like a lifetime. I didn't stop to think, I just fired. I emptied my entire magazine into the thing and it didn't even flinch. And then they were everywhere, coming out of the trees faster than anyone could get up from the floor, they tore the entire platoon apart in minutes. I hid in a cave that was behind me, just too small for them to get in but just big enough for me to squeeze into. I stayed in there until dawn. That was the longest night of my life, they stayed there all night just waiting for me. I've been a rogue ever since. ASIS tried to find me at first, but they gave up after I put two of their operatives in hospital." Tai took a deep breath through his nose pushed his tea away. "I need a cigarette." He said, and got up and left the room.

"How strange, werewolves in the Burmese rainforest. And the same werewolves in South Wales. And we have to assume they're the same ones because it's not like any of us have come across any werewolves like them before." Merrick stood up and stretched "shall we go and take a look at this farm then?"

The group got up from around the table and they filed for the door.

"Can I sit in the front with you?" Asked Tena, her eyes sparkling.

"Now now, there's no good turning those charms on me. I'm gay," countered Merrick, matter of factly.

"Oh God it's like Dumbledore all over again," Exclaimed Morgan with disgust.

"It's OK, I'm just kidding," Chuckled Merrick, putting his arms around the two women and leading them from the room and leaving Tara and Tai alone.

"Merrick tells jokes?" Said Tai, a distinct note of fear in his voice.

"I think my soul just died a little bit," squeaked Tara.

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Two hours later, after getting horribly lost twice, the group pulled up outside an old but cosy looking farmhouse with a few outbuildings attached. Merrick got out of the old Citroen and stretched out once more. Tena got out of the passenger side, leaving Morgan, Tara and Tai to pile out of the back of the car rather unceremoniously. Merrick headed off in the direction of one of the outbuildings and was followed by Tena. As soon as he entered the small barn the coppery, rusty smell of old blood hit him and he wrinkled his nose. He went over to one of the pens where the smell was strongest and peered over the door, he was met with a ghastly sight. There was a large horse on the floor of the pen, long dead and surrounded by flies. It's throat had been ripped open as had it's stomach, it had been eviscerated, organs bile viscera and blood pooling thickly around it. Merrick took a step back and Tena walked up to the pen curiously.

"No, don't."

But he was too late and she had already looked. She let loose a small chocked scream and threw herself back from the pen, retching loudly. The smell of vomit joined the stench of death and Merrick decided it was time to leave. He turned on his heel and strode swiftly from the barn, taking a long deep breath of fresh air once he was outside. He waited for Tena to join him a full five minutes later.

"You OK?"

She nodded weakly and headed off in the direction of the house. Merrick was about to join her when Tara approached him.

"Don't go in the barn," he told her, she however shook he head.

"I wanted to talk to you," she didn't wait for him to tell her to continue "werewolves are only actually werewolves for 3 days a month aren't they? I mean, they're people the rest of the time aren't they?"

Merrick sighed, he had seen this coming.

"Yes, that's right."

"So, we'll have no way of knowing who the werewolves are until the full moon will we?"

"Yes, there are ways you can tell if you know what you're looking for."

"But Merrick, they'll be people won't they. What do you plan on doing when we find them?"

Merrick once again sighed and raised his eyebrows at her. The result being an outburst that was not entirely unexpected.

"But Merrick you can't possibly suggest we kill them?! They're people Merrick, vampires is one thing but I'll not allow you to kill people. How can you justify it?!"

"The same way the majority of your country justifies the death penalty."

"I don't. And besides it's not the same, the death penalty is for killers who know full well what they're doing; these people become werewolves once a month and there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. It's not like they want to become werewolves and kill people."

"Do you know that for a fact? I've come across people who have relished their transformations and the power that comes with them, and have even managed to retain a certain amount of control during their transformation and can fully recount they actions as wolves."

"And you come here all full of your own sense of justice and aloof with arrogance, you're no better than they are Merrick. I will not allow you to murder people." She made to stride past him and towards the house but Merrick grabbed her jumper at the chest and lifted her off the floor, he slammed her into the side of the barn and brought his face alongside hers so he could whisper in her ear.

"What would you have me do? These wolves have actively hunted and killed people before, I'm sure of it there's too much coincidence. I'd rather kill three or four people than have to hear reports of people dying once a month for years."

"Get off of me!" Tara's shout alone seemed to knock the wind out of Merrick and send him soaring away from here to land with a thud about 12 feet away.

Merrick looked up in surprise at Tara whose eyes had turned to a deep, solid purple. Tara stood there, her face contorted with anger for a few moments more then her eyes faded back to their normal colour and the anger was replaced by a look of exhaustion and she collapsed to her knees. Merrick was at her side in an instant and caught her before she fell sideways to the floor.

"W-w-what happened?" Asked Tara weakly, not even lifting her head.

"You tapped into a power you can't control yet."

"I'm sorry Merrick..."

"It's ok. Focus, just like I taught you, you need to rebuild your energy levels."

"I think I'm ok, help me up."

Merrick helped Tara to her feet, she stumbled and he caught her. She straightened herself up and took a tentative and wobbly test step, then another, and then settled into her normal stride.

"...It was like one of those squirrels you see in the road, that are dead." Tena was saying as Merrick and Tara walked into the kitchen of the farmhouse, Tara still looking slightly pale.

"You mean you mean like a dead squirrel right?" Countered Morgan, looking around and catching Tara's eye she gave a small smile, which faltered as Tena spoke again.

"No I mean like a squirrel that's been hit by a car, like... splat!"

Morgan looked down, her blush hidden slightly by the orange glow the setting sun threw in through the dining room window. Tena scanned the room and saw Morgan's reaction to Tara and smiled, she also saw Tara slump into a chair and the concerned look on Merrick's face. The only person who seemed completely composed was Tai; his face was set with a stony resolve and there was a gleam of anticipation in his eyes.

"Merrick," Morgan said, looking out the window at the setting sun "tonight isn't a full moon, how are we meant to know who these werewolves are?"

Merrick sighed and dropped himself wearily into a seat.

"We aren't. Tonight we see what's what and secure the place. There's a forest out back there and I'll probably go reconnoitre it later. "

There was a mechanic clicking sound as Tai cocked his guns and holstered them.

"I'll come with you."

"No, you stay here." Tai opened his mouth to argue but Merrick cut him off "I'll be counting on you to look after things here while I'm out."

Tai looked from the weak, tired looking Tara; to Morgan who was back to looking anywhere but at Tara; to Tena who seemed like the type of girl who couldn't even make a cup of tea without a resulting disaster. He nodded at Merrick and sat back down, setting his guns back on the table.

"Tena," Merrick turned to the distracted looking blonde, who seemed to come back to earth at the mention of her name "you know this place, so I want you to give me the grand tour. I want to make sure the place is secure. Tai, make sure every thing's secure down here."

The two people addressed nodded and Tena followed Merrick out of the kitchen and up the stairs while Tai, once again holstering his guns, got up from the table and silently went to check the other downstairs rooms, leaving Tara, Morgan and an awkward silence in the kitchen.

Merrick entered the main bedroom of the house, he walked over to the large window offering him a view of the dense forest that lay just metres from the house. He looked up at the tiny sliver of moon that was rapidly rising in the East.

"So Tena," he said as she entered the room behind him "with an 'e'. That's quite an odd name, is it short for something?"

"Oh yes, Merrick with an 'm', I could ask you the same question?" She flashed him a coy smile, which he returned.

"Most definitely. So what's Tena short for then?"

"Tenebrus," was the reply.

Merrick frowned at this, he had heard that name somewhere before. He was about to ask her about it when she started speaking again, this time her voice had dropped a few octaves and had a slight growl to it.

"It's bollocks you know," Merrick felt her moving closer to him "all that about the full moon, bollocks"

Merrick whipped around and saw her eyes had turned yellow with cat like slits for pupils. She grinned at him, revealing razor sharp fangs filling her mouth and she uttered a low growl. Merrick quickly dropped to a combat position, his centre of gravity low and hi weight poised on the balls of his feet. But Tenebrus was faster, too fast, unbelievably fast. She was right in front of him in a split second and her foot connected solidly with his chest, it was like being hit by a truck and Merrick was sent soaring back out through the window with a crash and he landed with a thud on the sodden ground below. He pushed himself to his knees and looked back up at the broken window and saw Tenebrus, back to normal, grinning down at him. He picked himself to his feet and looked back up. She was gone. His jaw tightened with anger and his hands clenched into fists at his side and he turned around meaning to go back to the house and warn the others, but he found himself facing a werewolf. The creature was about seven feet tall and lunged at him instantly. Merrick put one hand on the creature's neck to stop it biting him and wrapped his other hand around it's wrist, holding it's claws back. But the thing had another set of claws and they raked red slashes across Merrick's chest. Merrick felt his back connect with the wall and also felt the claws of the creature's free hand cut his chest again. He braced himself against the wall and planted both his feet firmly on the werewolf's chest and pushed; it staggered back a few paces and Merrick fell to the floor. The werewolf gave a low growl and bared it's teeth, Merrick decided not to wait for another charge and leapt up, pushing himself off the wall and launching himself at the creature in a flying kick that sent it crashing through a small wooden fence that surrounded the garden. Merrick turned to leave but saw another werewolf approaching him from the other side of the garden and as he looked over hi shoulder he saw that the first had already recovered from his attack and was making a bee line for him. He looked from one werewolf to the other and then to the tree-line, and started running.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tara looked over at Morgan and for the tenth time caught the girl looking hastily away. Tara looked down and drew in a deep breath, mustering every ounce of courage she possessed.

"So, h-h-how've you been?" Asked Tara, silently cursing the ever present stutter that had brought her so much torment in her youth and still now popped up and reminded her of it's presence.

Morgan looked up in surprise at the silence being broken, it took her a few moments to recover, and then another few to get her response from her brain to her mouth.

"Yeah, not too bad; you know. Same old. How about you?" It was now Morgan's turn do do the silent cursing. How was that all she could come up with, that was pathetic. Words were her puppets and she manipulated them with unusual skill, like a master carpenter making a beautiful chair. How did this girl have the ability to steal from her this one skill with which she was gifted, how was it this girl rendered the great word smith Morgan Lacy speechless.

"Oh, I've been fine. You know. LA. Never a moment's peace." Tara continued, emboldened by the other girl's obvious nervousness, the playing field seemed level at least "I helped rescue Merrick..."

"Oh, well that's cool."

"Yeah, I'm not entirely sure he really needed rescuing. But I think I helped."

"Definitely. Help is always helpful." Both girls giggled at this.

"I've missed you."

Silence descended again as Tara flushed bright red, how could she have been so stupid; what a stupid, stupid thing to say. Morgan also flushed bright red, that comment was possibly the last thing she expected from the blonde. The silence continued thus for several minute until it was eventually broken by Tena bursting in through the door and giving the dining room a quick, flustered scan. As soon as she saw everything was fine she regained her composure. The whole thing took less than two seconds and went unnoticed by the two girls in the room.

"Is Tai not back yet?" She asked. Then not waiting for a reply, continued "Are you two ok here?"

The two girls nodded in response, Tena smiled at this. There was obviously something going on between the two and she could possibly use it to her advantage. Merrick obviously hadn't returned with news of her betrayal which meant Lucidus and Ferinus must have done their their jobs and he must either have been dealt with or being swiftly so.

"I'm going to look for Tai," she said, and headed for the kitchen door. Morgan's eyes followed her all the way, a guilty look on her face.

Tena however had no intention of looking for Tai and instead went straight for the front door of the farmhouse. When she got to the door she pulled a set of keys from her pocket and smiled, sliding the key into the lock with a mechanical click. She was about to turn the key to unlock the door when a cold voice stopped her.

"Tena, what are you doing?"

She turned her head slightly and saw Tai standing behind her, one of his guns raised, his eyes gaze was accusing and unwavering. Tena sighed in defeat and spun around with the same dizzying speed that had caught Merrick of guard not long before. Her left hand shot out and wrapped around his right wrist, pushing his gun away from her, at the same time her right fist flew into his nose with incredible force. He felt his nose break with the impact and the tell-tale pressure build up in his sinus cavity as a thick wetness began running down from his nose and he tasted the coppery sweetness of blood filling the back of his mouth. His vision blurred and he dropped his gun, but he managed to stay on his feet. Tena's fist came in a second time, this time connecting with the side of his head, this time his vision blacked completely and he found himself on the floor. He rolled onto his back, fighting to stay conscious and scrabbling for his fallen gun.

Tena went back to the door and unlocked it, a draft of air blew her hair back as the door swung open. A sharp crack filled the air and suddenly she felt a pain around her sternum. She looked down to see blood welling up from her chest and she fell back slightly, the door keeping her from falling over completely.

Tai blinked the tears from his eyes, they were causing his vision to blur; and it was bad enough as it is, the blow to the side of his head causing it to become blotchy. He saw the blurred outline of Tena fall against the door and prepared to fire again when a tall shadow loomed over him. He looked up but all he could make out was a large black shape, which sharpened into a large boot that kicked his gun from his hand. Tai barely had time to react to this as the boot came back around and, in the same fluid motion, swiped across his jaw with such force it sent him skidding across the floor and crashing into the wall where he slumped, this time staying down.

The single gunshot sounded incredibly loud in the dining room and caused Tara to squeak with fright and grip the table so hard her knuckles turned shock white. Morgan also jumped in fright but was quick to recover herself, she grabbed a medium sized axe from the array of weapons that littered the table top and hurried off in the direction she thought the shot had originated.

When she arrived on the scene, moments after Tai had been kicked, she took it in with a confused look. She saw Tena, using the front door to keep herself up, holding a bloody hand to her chest; Tai slumped, unconscious on the floor; and a very tall stranger filling up the small passage that led from the front door to the small kitchen. In doing this assessment Morgan had done the one thing she shouldn't: she hesitated. A small smile curled up at the corner of the stranger's mouth and Morgan realised she had made a mistake, she lifted the axe to strike but it was too late; she hadn't even finished lifting it before the stranger was on her, he grabbed the axe just above where she was holding it and wrenched it from her grip. He then kicked her in the midsection and she flew back, bouncing off one of the kitchen counters and landing on the floor. She lifted her head and saw the stranger grin as he took a step towards he, axe raised.

"No!"

The stranger looked up from Morgan to see Tara standing in the kitchen doorway, he smiled at her. But the smile was short lived as the axe flew out of his hands, Tena only just saw it in time and threw herself sideways to avoid being decapitated. The stranger turned back to Tara and snarled, but the door swung shut in his face. Morgan looked up at Tara as the blonde looked from the door to the large fridge, which flew across the room and crashed into the door. Tara then exhaled sharply, as though she had been holding her breath and she put her hand to her head. Morgan was on her feet in an instant and ran over to Tai, helping him to his feet. He was bleeding profusely from a cut on the side of his head and from his broken nose, but he seemed to have regained consciousness at least and with Morgan fro support managed to walk. She grabbed Tara's arm on the way past and the witch shook her head and started running.


	14. Those squirrels, that are dead pt3

Those squirrels, that are dead pt3

Merrick leapt over a small ditch and as soon as his feet hit the ground he threw himself sideways, landing behind a large tree and flattening himself against it's trunk. He had been running for almost an hour, and when he wanted to not get caught he was quite good at it, but the two werewolves were relentless. He seemed to have lost one of them but the other was still hot on his heels. And right on cue the larger of the two werewolves leapt the ditch and landed mere metres away from where Merrick was crouched. The beast looked around but Merrick was well hidden and it was very dark, the moon offering no light at all. Merrick's eyes had taken on a cat like quality and were almost all pupil, he could see almost perfectly in the pitch darkness, the werewolf however could not. It had other sense however and was fully capable of using them. It sniffed the air and then growled loudly, it knew he was close, it just couldn't see him. Yet. Merrick, deciding he was fed up of hiding and seeing there was now only one, the other obviously having given up a while back, dove out from behind the tree. He grabbed the beast around it's immense neck and pushed it backwards, punching it repeatedly on the jaw. It was however having none of this and caught Merrick with a vicious upper cut that sent him back against the tree. He rolled away again, just in time as the tree trunk was torn apart by the werewolf's claws where Merrick's head was moments before. Merrick jumped to his feet from the roll and squared up to the beast and the circled each other, Merrick's eyes had taken on a deep red glow to them and shone like points of fire in the darkness. The beast lunged at him but Merrick had figured it out now, it was as strong as a rhinoceros, and about as graceful. He spun expertly out of it's way and it blundered into a tree, Merrick was on it in less that a moment, driving his elbow down on the back of it's neck. He felt the creature falter beneath him and brought his elbow down again and it fell to it's knees. Already the creature's muscles tensed as it started to recover and Merrick realised that without weapons there wasn't much he could do. He drove his elbow a third time down on it's neck then placed his foot on it's back and brought his other foot up to push it's head hard into the tree, he also used this momentum to launch himself away from the creature and back into the dense forest, he leapt back over the ditch and started running back towards the house as the creature started howling with rage behind him somewhere.

Ten minutes later Merrick was crouched down at the edge of the forest looking across the large garden at the house, giving the area a quick scan and feeling satisfied there was no one about he headed towards the house. The lack of any movement coming from the house unnerved him, the other's knew nothing of Tena's betrayal and he had wasted a lot of time trying to lose the two werewolves that had attacked him and anything could have happened.

He got to the back door and tried the handle. It was locked. He decided to try the front door and made his way cautiously around the house, suddenly very aware of how many blind corners the house had and how weapon-less he was. Upon reaching the front door he was met with a chilling sight. There was a bloodstain on the door itself and just above that there was a jagged, splintered hole. Merrick stepped over the threshold and saw an axe on the floor, he recognised it as one of the ones they had brought with them from Morgan's house. He picked it up and made his way to the kitchen. The door from the small hallway to the kitchen was splintered and hanging off it's hinges and the fridge was lying broken on the floor. Merrick's jaw tightened and he tested the axe in his hands; it was quite light, designed to be wielded in one hand. He made his way cautiously through the small kitchen and into the living room, which looked untouched. He next went into the dining room, which also looked untouched, the only thing that seemed different was that a few of the weapons were missing. Merrick walked around the table and headed for the door leading from the dining room to the stairs when a large black shape crashed through the window and flew straight into him.

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The last twenty or so minutes had been, without a doubt the worst twenty or so minutes of Tara's life. Morgan, Tara and Tai had run into the kitchen and pausing for only a second to grab a few weapons, more to make them feel safer than to put them to any use, they then ran straight upstairs. Almost as soon as they were upstairs they heard an almighty crash which could only have been the fridge being unceremoniously removed from it's blocking of the door. At the sound Tai stopped running and held his sword out.

"Go to the farthest room, try and get out of the window and get Merrick, I'll try and buy you some time."

"They'll kill you, you didn't last thirty seconds last time." Morgan took hold of Tai's arm

"I'll be fine, this time I know what I'm up against. Get Tara out of here." Tai gave Morgan a shove and she staggered back. "GO!"

Morgan's shoulders slumped in defeat and she grabbed Tara's arm and they ran down the corridor, leaving Tai standing at the top of the stairs. He squared his stance and stood ready as the dining room door burst open.

Morgan and Tara heard the door burst open but they couldn't see what was happening because they'd rounded a corner. Morgan took a step forward, intending to go to Tai's aid, but Tara grabbed her shoulder and dragged her into one of the bed rooms and slammed the door shut.

The werewolf that came up the stairs at Tai was the very same one who took him out earlier, but this time Tai was ready. Though all that meant was he lasted a few seconds longer. He swung his sword in a wide cutting blow, intending to decapitate his opponent, but the wolf stopped running and the attack fell short. With Tai off balance it charged anew, and caught him with a vicious blow to his gut which was the end of the fight. The werewolf picked up the barely conscious Tai and pinned him against the wall, bringing it's jaws right next to his face.

"Don't kill him," Tena strolled coolly up the stairs and at her command the werewolf dropped Tai and turned to face her. "Find the girls, I'm going to see what happened to Merrick."

The wolf began stalking down the corridor, pausing at every door to sniff the air. Tena meanwhile went back down the stairs and into the dining room, and after a quick glance around she went out into the garden. As she walked into the garden a werewolf walked out of the trees and towards the house. On seeing Tena the werewolf reverted to her human form, which was a short girl with unruly orange hair. Tena saw the girl and quickened her pace.

"What happened? Where's Merrick?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know. I lost him, but I think Ferinus is still chasing him."

"You lost him?! I give you one job to do, just one!"

"Tenebrous I'm sorry." The girl cowered away from Tena's building rage, but she wasn't quick enough and Tena struck her on her cheek and the the girl stumbled with the force of the blow.

"Find him." Ordered Tena, the shadow of the wolf crossing her face, and the girl nodded and hurried off towards the trees. Tena sniffed with annoyance and walked around the house, her brows knotted in thought.

Upstairs, meanwhile, Morgan and Tara were huddled in the bedroom listening to the werewolf bursting open other doors searching for them. Tara, trembling, cast a spell at the door and slumped on the floor, drained.

"No," Morgan saw Tara slump and helped her to her feet "what did you do?"

"Shield charm." came the breathless response from the blonde "But it won't hold him for long, I don't have the power. . . "

There came a crash and the door shook on it's hinges but did not break, and as the door shook Tara shuddered in Morgan's arms, and would have fallen again if the other girl hadn't been holding her up. Morgan turned from the door, which was still under continuous assault from the determined werewolf, and looked Tara in the eyes for the first time all night.

"This is it, then?" She asked.

"Looks like it." Responded Tara, before being overcome by another violent shudder, this time almost blacking out, and the door splintered as the shield all but failed. She realised that they were about to die, and lifted her head so that her face was inches from Morgan's and the musician, sensing what was coming, opened her mouth to protest, but the words never made it out because Tara's mouth was there and they were kissing; kissing as though this was the last kiss they would ever have, nothing mattered, the crashing of the door fell into the background and Morgan deepened the kiss as Tara reached up and grabbed a handful of her hair. Then, with an unfathomable force of will, Morgan broke the kiss with a breathless and barely uttered 'no'. At the very same time the shield charm on the door broke, almost as though the kiss was what was keeping it up, and the door crashed open. The dark shape of the towering werewolf walked through the door, sensing it's prey had nowhere to go, no way to fight. But he was wrong. Just like they did earlier, Tara's eyes turned that deep purple, and Morgan was forced to take a step back as raw power fell off her in waves. The werewolf took a step forward but Tara screamed and there was a burst of light and the wolf was sent hurtling out of the room with a yelp like a dog that had just been struck, the door then re-formed itself and took up it's post guarding the entrance to the room once more. This all only lasted a couple of seconds, and once the door was back up and a shield around it so powerful it was visible to the naked eye, Tara collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Morgan knelt beside her, a look of worry on her face, and felt for a pulse. When she was satisfied that Tara was still alive, and they were safe for the moment, she let herself breath, and looked around the room they were in. It appeared to be a bedroom that doubled as a study, with a large bed on one wall, and a large desk on the other, with a large window between them. As she scanned the room something on the desk glinted in the moonlight and she walked towards it. What caught her eye turned out to be a very small stiletto that looked like it was being used as a letter opener. She picked it up and examined it closely, and her heart skipped a beat as she saw the small '925' mark on the handle. It was silver. She grinned. Now they had a weapon they could use. Suddenly a crash from below told her someone or something had just crashed through the dining room window and the sounds of a fierce scuffle drifted up to her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The dark shape that had crashed through the window into Merrick turned out to be the same massive werewolf that had pursued him so doggedly through the forest, and as in the forest the fierce fight that ensued turned into a stalemate, the werewolf being stronger than Merrick, but Merrick being faster, and more skilled. Merrick avoided most of it's attacks, but none of his counter attacks seemed to cause any real damage. He was getting frustrated. He didn't have time for this, he needed to find the others.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Morgan jumped as the persistent wolf at their door resumed it's attacks, though to no avail, the shield that Tara had cast before passing out was holding well. Unfortunately this is not what Morgan wanted right now. She ran over to Tara, who was beginning to stir, and shook her. Tara stirred awake and instantly regretted it, she ached from head to foot, and rolled over to try and go back to the comforting darkness.

"No, come on. . . You can sleep later. . . Please. . . "

Tara heard the soft voice, laced with panic, and images of a blurry faced red-head floated in the fore-front of her hind-brain, but before she could get a grasp on it she was shaken awake and stared up at into Morgan's face.

"W-w-what-?"

"No time, I just need you to bring down that shield, and distract it when it gets in. I'm sorry that this has to be like this, but we don't have much time."

Tara nodded and looked at the shield that she couldn't remember casting, that she didn't even know she had the power to cast. . . She was never the powerful one, it was always. . . and the thought was gone again, and the shield broke, shattering, visibly, like glass. The door shattered again, this time it wasn't coming back and the werewolf ran into the room taking no chances this time. It went straight for Tara, and Morgan dove out of it's way. It pinned her against the wall and brought it's jaws down to her face. Morgan made her move. She leapt at it, the stiletto held above her head, pointing down from her closed fist, swinging it downwards and as she landed on the wolf, she buried the short dagger to the hilt in it's neck and it howled in pain and dropped to it's knees. The howl turned slowly into a human cry of pain and anguish and eventually what was left was a tall man with unruly, sand coloured hair, lying naked and face down at Tara's feet, blood flowing steadily from a smoking wound where his neck met his shoulder, the handle of a silver letter opener protruding from the wound.

Tara looked down at the body at her feet and let out a pitiful whimper, she sunk slowly to her knees, unable to take her eyes from the bleeding corpse that was a minute ago a towering werewolf that was intent on a murder most foul. Morgan was trying to tell her something, she knew that, she could hear her voice, but she couldn't make out any words.

Morgan looked down at Tara and, realising time was running out, decided the best course of action was to leave her for now and go see who was fighting downstairs. She pulled the stiletto out of the body with a sickening squelch and a small spurt of blood followed it out, adding to the spreading stain on the carpet. She ran out of the door, past Tai and down the stair to the door to the dining room.

Merrick was fighting his immovable opponent, he ducked under another poorly aimed blow an caught it in the back with a jumping spin kick, but the kick barely caused any damage and the wolf spun and tried to catch Merrick with a backhand, which dodged again. Suddenly the door opened and someone called his name and Merrick turned in time to see a knife flying towards him. He caught but the moment's lapse meant the werewolf grabbed him and pinned him against the wall, but Merrick managed to twist in it's arms and thrust the small knife straight into the front of it's neck, causing it to gargle horribly. It fell to it's knees and just like the other wolf, turned back into human form and slumped sideways. Dead.

Merrick knelt down and pulled out the stiletto and examining it, he then turned to Morgan.

"Silver. Where'd you find it?"

"On a desk upstairs." She panted.

Merrick opened his mouth to say something when the sound of smashing glass came from upstairs.

"Tara!" Shouted Morgan, and ran for the stairs, but Merrick grabbed her arm.

"Wait. We don't know what to expect up there. I'll go first."

And do he did, leading the way slowly up the stairs. They came to the top of the stairs and saw Tara coming out of the bedroom she was in, being held up by Tena and Merrick, in no more than a split second, had slipped the stiletto up his sleeve.

"Merrick. I must say, far more trouble than I expected you to be." She said coldly, her grip on Tara's throat tightening.

"Why did you bring us here Tenebrous?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Tena, you went to Morgan and reported the attacks in the first place. I'd have never turned up here if you hadn't mentioned it."

"Ah. Well. I was hired. My skills are quite legendary you know."

Merrick frowned thoughtfully. He had many enemies. He'd have to look into it.

"What are you? I've never heard of werewolves that can transform at any time, not to mention ones that look like yours."

"So many questions. Well I suppose you _are_ about to die. My kin and I are third generation werewolves. We were born with the wolf inside us. We have mastered our transformations, and had the strength of the wolf even when not transformed."

"Very interesting. . . " Merrick saw her tense and knew something was about to happen. What he didn't expect to happen however, was for her to drop Tara and lunge at him, he was ready for her this time; he knew just how fast she was. He twisted away from her attack and kicked her into the opposite wall, slipping the stiletto out at the same time and he threw it, straight into her chest. She screamed and fell to her knees, then forward on to her knees. Merrick walked up to her and tucked his foot under her, flipping her onto her back. She stared up at him, defiant, smoke coming from the wound in her chest. Merrick knelt next to her and she spoke, in a choked voice:

"So tell me, what's Merrick short for anyway?"

Merrick smiled, and bent down so his mouth was right next to her ear and whispered something and for the first time in her long life Tenebrous looked and felt afraid. Merrick pulled the knife from her chest and slammed it down in the middle of her forehead and she lay there, her blank eyes staring at the ceiling, the last and only look of fear or her life frozen on her face. Slowly Merrick got to his feet and turned to Morgan and Tara.

"Help Tai up. Burn the house. Let's get out of here."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Cardiff Airport.

2 days later.

Still bearing the bruises of their encounter, the group trooped solemnly to their departure gate, Morgan and Tara hanging back slightly, Merrick and Tai ahead. Tai looked back at the girls but Merrick gave him a slight nudge and the two kept walking, leaving the girls behind. Tara turned to face Morgan.

"I'll miss you." She said.

For a moment Morgan looked like there was something stuck in her throat, a moment that felt like a lifetime to both women.

"I. . . I know." Was all Morgan managed. Tara looked like she was going to say something else but Morgan interrupted her "no. Just go. And don't look back." And she gave Tara a small push.

"Go."

Tara looked down and, realising she was beaten looked at Morgan one last time, then turned and walked away. Morgan stood there, watching her back, watching the blonde hair sway hypnotically from side to side as she walked. She knew she'd never see her again. She sighed. She left.


	15. Hold On For Turbulence Pt1

So here it is guys, the beginning of the end. Song lyrics once again provided by Kayleigh Morgan, Tara belongs to Joss Whedon, and Merrick is mine :). Slight warning: This chapter contains some strong language, so if that'll offend you don't read on (though I'd prefer it if you would). Thank you for reading, there's one chapter left after this and then it'll be finished. But don't be disheartened if you like Merrick because I have big big plans for him still to come in Volume 2 of The Chronicles of Merrick. Thank you again, really, this story would be nothing without it's readers. So here's the chapter:

_'Who's in the next room? - Who?_

_A figure wan_

_With a message to one in there of something due?_

_Shall I know him anon?'_

_'Yea, he; and he brought such; and you'll know him anon.'_

Thomas Hardy _'Who's In The Next Room.'_

_Like an obelisk towards which the principal streets of a town converge, the strong will of a proud spirit stands prominent and commanding in the middle of the art or war._

Clausewitz _On War_

_**For Kayleigh, **_

_**who goes out of her way**_

_**to help**_

_**everyone**_

_**else,**_

_**even when it causes**_

_**her**_

_**pain.**_

_**Whether she admits it or not. **_

"Damn it Merrick, I want to know what's happening to me!" Yelled Tara, the argument had been raging for almost the full three weeks since they'd returned from Wales, and her temper was fraying.

"I've told you Tara, I honestly don't know. I only have guesses, and they're uncertain ones-"

"Well guess then!" She yelled again, cutting him off.

She hadn't, all things considered, had a very good few weeks: Morgan's odd goodbye was eating at her inside, and the girl wouldn't answer her phone or return any calls. On top of that there were the floating half memories that she just couldn't grasp. Then there was the whole thing with the purple eyes, queen of magic thing she had going on whilst in Wales. She didn't understand it at all, and Merrick, for all his years and knowledge had no explanation. He sighed at her and dropped into his winged back chair, leaning back thoughtfully.

"You're asking questions of me, Tara, to which there may be no definite answer. What I did pushed the boundaries of magic further than I believe they've ever been pushed before ." Merrick spoke as though he had intoned this sentence a million times in the past few weeks.

"So you've said, but what you did has been done before; it's dangerous and requires great power, but it's been done."

"Not like this Tara. I invoked ancient magic to get to you."

"I think," started Tara, falling into the chair opposite Merrick "that it's time you were honest with me. I want to know exactly what you did to bring me back and exactly what suspicions you have as to my new powers." She stared at him intently

Merrick nodded.

"You've heard of the urn of Osiris, right?"

Tara's eyes widened with shock and realisation.

"I didn't use one, there was only one left in the world, and it was destroyed years ago. I only mentioned it to give you an idea of the magnitude of my problem. The urn is the only way of resurrecting a person from the dead with all of their faculties in tact, and even then there are strict rules and the person doesn't always come back . . . right."

"But I thought you said I was trapped in-"

"You were dead. I didn't tell you that at the time, you were in a fragile state." Tara looked shocked and opened her mouth to speak but Merrick held up his hand "Look, if you want to get anywhere with this, you'd do well not to interrupt. Okay?"

Tara nodded her agreement and Merrick continued.

"You were dead. Now the circumstances of your death were strange indeed. You died of natural causes, technically, but you shouldn't have. The people who killed you were after someone else, you got caught in the crossfire. It was their second attempt. The first went horribly wrong for them and so they decided, in their stupidity, to call upon ancient and powerful magic and have another go. Have you heard of the eye of Rah-Mesh?"

This time Tara's knowledge failed her and she shook her head.

"It's ancient, older than anything else on this plain of existence as far as I know. Now these people had heard of it but didn't understand it. They activated it, to its basest level of power, and travelled, somehow, back in time, for all extents and purposes. It may be that they created a completely new dimension where their first, failed attempt, hadn't happened. I don't know. Now you weren't supposed to die, because like I said, there are prophecies that, though vague like all prophecies, seem authentic and mention you. However, because of what these three did, time was thrown all asunder, and there had to be severe consequences . . . you.

"I was charged with the task of bringing you back, which was no small feat. I looked into everything I could and finally came across a mention of this eye, and studied it further, and realised what had happened, and how simple the solution really was. I needed the blood of the person who last activated the eye and an immortal to cross over. I knew where to find the person who activated the eye and I'm immortal enough. I also needed a way to trap a soul that is ready to depart and very precise spells.

"I managed to get all these things together and crossed, using the eye, across both time and dimension to come to the exact point where you died. I trapped your soul before it could ascend to a higher plain, where there would be no chance of bringing it back. I then returned to the present. Several more complicated spells made you corporeal and here we are.

"Now as to these new powers, when we came back to this realm, your soul and I that is, we were ripped apart and for a short time were one indiscernible being. Now what my speculations are is that part of me could have rubbed off on you at this point, and so the powers you've been showing are actually a part of me, being projected by you. Being a witch, power manifests differently in you. If I'm right, then these powers should dissipate over time. Although, I could be completely wrong, and it could all be something to do with the eye. Like I said, guesswork."

Merrick finished his monologue, most of which had only been worked out in the last week or so, and leant back in his chair. Tara was still trying to digest all the information, and seemed to be having difficulty with it. There was still so much she didn't understand. She sighed and looked over at Merrick, who still had his eyes closed. These past few weeks had been hard on all of them, Merrick especially. She'd been so hard on him, taking out her frustrations over Morgan on him and demanding constantly to know what was going on with her powers. He had a dark shadow around his jaw and dark circles under his eyes, and with him leaning back the way he was now, with his eyes closed, he looked surprisingly weak. It worried her that someone she knew to be so strong, both inside and out, could look thus. He opened his eyes and looked at her. She too was showing signs of the stress of the past few weeks, with dark circles of her own, and hair that looked a little worse for wear.

"At the moment, that's as far as I've got. I've been trying to look more into this eye, but there's very little on it. I'm waiting for a volume that should have some information, but until I get that you'll have to take what I've said."

Tara nodded, it wasn't quite as enlightening as she'd have liked, but she knew it was all she was going to get for now. Merrick sat forward in his chair and rolled his head from side to side, stretching his neck muscles. At that moment the phone rang, making Tara jump. Merrick got out of the chair and walked slowly to the phone and answered it. He listened to someone on the other line talking excitedly.

"You're joking?!" He waited for another burst of exited chatter from the other party, then: "I'll be there as soon as I can, wait for me." And he hung up the phone and turned back to Tara.

"I need to go out for a while, stay in here okay?" She nodded and Merrick threw on his coat and left.

He hurried down his stairs and out on to the street, and frowned for what must be the millionth time that week at Tai's car. It was parked outside the building, and had been ever since they got back. Tai had said something about an errand he had to run when they got back and they hadn't seen him since. Merrick wasn't worried, after all he barely knew Tai, and the man could take care of himself. Merrick had a quick look around and hurried down the street.

Merrick's destination was the city museum, a place he really didn't like very much after his last visit. He had a meeting with the curator, and the short bearded man ran down the front steps to meet him.

"You know, this thing really frightens me, I'm glad you hurried," squeaked the curator as Merrick approached.

"Of all the things you have in there, this frightens you?"

"Yes Merrick, this frightens me. You know what it is right?"

"Oh I know full well what it is; it's why I want it. Where is it?"

"Inside, do you think I'd go running out into the street with it? Come on."

He led Merrick inside the building.

Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Tara was busying herself making a cup of tea when there was a knock at the door making her jump for the second time in a couple of hours. She picked up the small but very sharp knife that was sitting on the table and walked cautiously to the door. She eased it open slowly and relaxed.

"Oh, it's you," she smiled and stepped aside to let the person in "I was just making tea, want one?"

Merrick sat down opposite John in his small office, and the curator pulled a very large and very old looking book out of his draw. He slid it very cautiously over to Merrick, treating it as though it was highly explosive. Merrick took the book and examined it carefully.

"What did you have to do to get it?" asked Merrick.

"Oh, you don't want to know. Trust me. I don't have it indefinitely though, so you'll have to bring it back when you're done."

Merrick nodded and stood up to leave, then turned back to John.

"How are our friends doing?" He asked.

"Oh, fine. They scare me too, but I've gotten used to them now. I was just going to check on them when you left."

Merrick nodded again and this time actually left. He had a lot of reading to do, the book was heavy and he was hurrying along with it tucked under his coat.

Tai's car was still outside the building when he got back; no surprise. A man in a beanie staggered out of the door practically carrying a girl who was wearing a heavy jacked and a baseball cap. Merrick didn't pay them any attention: he was in a hurry to look through the book. He rushed through the door and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. When he got to his door he pulled the book out from under his coat and shifted into his left hand so that he could get out his keys and unlock the door. He pushed the key in to the hole and turned, or rather tried to. The door wasn't locked. Merrick frowned and pushed it open. The apartment was a mess, his bookcase had been pushed over, as had the TV and the door to the bedroom was hanging off its hinges, there was also a lot of general mess that certainly wasn't there before. Merrick stepped into the room.

"Tara?" He called, cautiously.

There was a noise like air being sucked into a vacuum and then an explosion tore through the apartment and Merrick was thrown off his feet and blown through the opposite wall. The explosion left a gaping hole in the side of the building where Merrick's apartment had been, and Merrick got to his feet from under the pile of plaster and rubble he found himself and walked to where the door to his apartment used to be. He looked down and saw the smouldering remains of the book he got from John. He punched a hole in the wall and screamed.

"FUUUUCK!!"

Merrick was angry, and he leapt out of the hole where he used to live and landed on the street below, shocking several people. He thought of the couple that left as he arrived. The girl, staggering as though drunk, but in hindsight looked more hurt. Blonde hair tucked under a baseball cap. He swore again and took off down the street in a run, then stopped and ran in the other direction. He had no idea where to look. He swore a third time, and then calmed down; he knew a way to find her. There were things he needed, and the only place he knew where he could get them was practically the other side of town. His nostrils flared and he looked at Tai's car. What the hell, he thought, and broke the car's window with his elbow and climbed in. He tore off the plastic concealing the wires under the steering column and touched the ignition wires together and the car started. He drove away leaving smoke and tire marks behind.

Hundreds of miles away a young woman got up onto a stage in front of a sparse audience in a small pub; she plugged in her guitar and spoke into the microphone:

"This is song's one of mine, it's got a funny story behind it. . . which I'm not going to tell you. It's called Turbulence." Morgan took a deep breath and began to play.

_I said "Come here",_

_sit down with me._

_Relax._

_I've got a while before I leave._

_swear me_

_everything before I go._

_sketch it out, I'll write it down._

Merrick sped across town in Tai's car, other road users beeping their horns at him and flashing him rude hand gestures, but he ignored them.

_And I promised,_

_I promised to come home._

_But the light cut out_

_and the fuel is low._

He skidded to a halt outside Morgan's LA apartment, and he jumped out of the car almost before it had stopped and ran up to the door. He ran to the stairs and hurried up them, taking them three at a time until he finally came to Morgan's door.

_So here we are again._

_Hold on for turbulence._

_I'm crashing down without a 'chute_

_and burning up in_

_my lost dreams of you._

He pushed they key into the lock and turned it, there was a click as the door unlocked and Merrick pushed it open. He strode across the room and into the bedroom, where he headed for the dresser, hoping she hadn't taken them with her. He opened the dresser and found what he was looking for. He pulled out a map and a small crystal suspended on a piece of string. He set the map out on the floor and dangled the crystal over it. The crystal began to swing wildly and finally came to a halt over what appeared to be the very same building site Merrick had fought Baybars, what felt like a lifetime ago. His jaw tensed as he ran from the room, not bothering to lock the door as he went.

_You sighed._

_You said I'm gonna miss you._

_I said "I know" because I couldn't bear to say it_

_back to you._

_It was awkward._

_You were so close yet so damn far._

_It's my fault that we are here,_

_I'm breaking my own heart._

Merrick screeched to a halt outside the building site and again leapt from the car almost before it stopped. He ran into the site and leapt the railing, landing in the middle of what would probably be the basement of the building if it was ever finished. He saw her. Tara was slumped against a pillar in the centre of the, for lack of a better term, room. Merrick advanced toward her slowly and she looked up, she shook he head at him, her eyes bulging wildly and he was about to turn around when he was hit in the small of the back by what felt like a wrecking ball. It sent him flying to the other side of the room and he hit the wall with tremendous force.

"I knew you'd come." Said a familiar voice, and Tai emerged from the shadows and walked purposefully towards Tara without taking his eyes from Merrick, who got to his feet and glared at Tai.

"Not so fast," said Tai, and held up his hand. What looked like lightening burst from his outstretched hand and hit the advancing Merrick square in the chest and he was thrown once again at the wall "I really don't intend on underestimating you, Merrick."

Merrick struggled to his feet again, that last blast had done some damage.

_And I promised_

_that it would never happen again._

_But the engine dies,_

_it's dark up ahead._

Tai reached Tara and grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling her to her feet. Merrick surged forwards but had barely got three paces before he was thrown right back to the wall and Tai laughed.

"Oh Merrick, if only you could see yourself. . ." Tai chuckled, clearly amused "now, if you don't mind, I'll be taking Tara with me." He said, and began walking towards the steps with Tara "and you, shall be staying right here." He yelled and threw Tara at the steps while sending lightening at every support structure in the room and one at Merrick, who was once more blasted hard against the wall, only this time a large rock fell on his head too. It was followed by a second, and soon the entire building site was falling down on Merrick while Tai dragged Tara out to his car.

_So here we are again._

_Hold on for turbulence._

_I'm crashing down without a 'chute_

_and burning up in_

_my lost dreams of you._

_So here is our last flight._

_I faced the fire for you tonight._

_I sacrificed everything_

_just to make you happy once again._

_Goodbye I said._


End file.
